With what we know about the lag time from infection to hospitalization, we can guess that this spike in care needs likely came from people getting infected about three weeks ago. m.startribune.com/minnesota-heal…
Remember these news stories about Minnesota moving from an A to a D in a social distancing report card? Dateline May 7th. This data is also what the governor referenced when he announced he was turning the dial up and allowing slow reopening of businesses minnesota.cbslocal.com/2020/05/07/min…
While this spike is likely from infections that happened before the new orders—(again, assuming, given the lag time between infection and hospitalization)—it is worrying given that now people will be moving about even more. startribune.com/how-minnesotan…
Recently @mrotzie shared with me some wisdom she’d heard about this moment: there are no good choices, only good decisions. That’s what it means to be in a crisis. Yes, shutting down reduces spread and yes shutting down also is robbing many of their livelihoods.
Economy vs. Public Health is a false choice. Opening up in a way that creates a burden on our healthcare system could create another need to shut down and more economic hardship.
I was not thrilled with the governor’s decision to turn the dial up, but I also saw that people were moving about more anyway. When I saw the rancor around Shady’s bar wanting to reopen, I thought, maybe this was what the governors’ decision anticipated.
I thought Shady’s owner probably looked more unreasonable because everyone knew the governor was loosening restrictions. Then this week the Catholic Church’s defiance made me think that maybe what the governor did was embolden the Open Now crowd.
Today I think both things are true. The governor made a choice in a context with no good choices. I am fortunate my spouse & I can work from home. We will continue to #StayAtHome.
But the advice to #StaySafeMN is for real because in the end we will get through this crisis with the least amount of pain when we all act responsibly & take care of each other. We can’t force people to be kind to each other, but we can practice kindness & hope it spreads.
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More info on the potential impact of increased mobility and viral spread. washingtonpost.com/health/study-e…
