Spike in COVID-19 Cases in Beltrami County Over the Weekend

There has been a large spike in COVID-19 cases in Beltrami County over the weekend, which includes the largest number of positive tests in one day for the county. They are currently monitoring 96 active cases.

There were 31 new cases in one day over the weekend, which is the highest amount of new cases seen in one day in the county since the beginning of the pandemic. Much of the transmission is between family members.

There are also currently 19 people hospitalized at Sanford Health, although not all are Beltrami County residents. The reason for the increase in hospitalizations is due to how the disease is being spread. In between families, last week the majority of the cases were younger people in their early 20s, and this week there are more cases in older people.

Another reason for the spike is due to last week over 1,200 people being tested in Beltrami County over three days at a mass COVID-19 testing event. The majority of those results are now in. The event led to many people who may not have known they were sick getting tested.

County officials are still waiting on more data to come from the state following the testing event, including the case positivity rate for the county.