GROWING CONCERN

As the COVID-19 virus has quickly spread globally into a pandemic, concern has spread even faster.
On a local level, Minneota schools, churches and businesses have been doing their part to inform, educate and take preventative measures to combat this serious disease, despite having no cases reported yet in Lyon County.
As of March 17, there have been 60 individuals in Minnesota diagnosed with COVID-19, with no deaths reported.
There have been 4,740 cases so far in the United States, with 85 confirmed deaths as of Tuesday (March 17). Globally, the number of cases is over 188,000 with over 7,500 deaths.
The number in Minnesota elevated from 21 on Saturday to 60 on Tuesday.
There are now cases reported in Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Hennepin, Olmstead, Ramsey, Renville, Stearns, Waseca, Washington and Wright counties in Minnesota.
President Trump addressed the nation on Wednesday evening and recommended that senior living facilities limit or not allow unnecessary visitors.
The Minneota Manor Health Care Center and Madison Avenue Apartments then announced late last week that they are reminding all employees who are ill to stay home, while all family members and volunteers are asked to avoid visiting its facility.
Also, the Minneota Manor is staying in close contact with local and state health officials and is ensuring that staff members and residents are practicing proper hand hygiene.
Gov. Tim Walz announced on Sunday that by executive order he is closing all Minnesota public schools beginning on Wednesday, March 18. Several state schools, including Minneota, shut down beginning on Monday.
As of Sunday, March 15, the following Minneota Public School events have been cancelled:
• Robotics Nationals in Detroit on April 29-May 3
• College Field Trip for juniors on March 18
• College Field Trip for freshmen on March 27
• NYWA Youth wrestling
• Fourth-grade College Exploration Day on April 2
• Sunshine Carnival, March 27
• Large Group Contest on March 16
• Senior class trip to Colorado
These local events have been postponed until a later date:
• Wrestling Banquet on March 15
• Speech Meet at SMSU on March 14
• Section Speech March 21
• High School Band/Choir Concert on March 17
• Parent/Teacher Conferences on March 16
• State FFA Convention
• State FCCLA Convention
• Driver’s Education
• All sports and activities
• All youth sports

The Minnesota State High School League cancelled the State Girls Basketball Tournament involving Minneota after the quarterfinals were completed on Thursday. They have also cancelled all section and state Boys Basketball Tournaments.
Most large public gatherings are being cancelled or postponed on a local, state and national level.
Many businesses across the country are reporting that patrons are hoarding items such as toilet paper, bottled water, disinfectants, soap, hand sanitizer and non-perishable food items in case they need to quarantine themselves to prevent contracting the coronavirus. Many store shelves have been stripped bare where some of these aforementioned items once sat.
Brad Minnehan of Brad's Market announced late last week that toilet paper and hand sanitizer was nearly sold out. The store was busier than usual with customers stocking up due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Brad's will continue to restock these products as much as possible.
Other local and surrounding area businesses that sell paper products, hand sanitizer, disinfectants, bottled water and non-perishable food items also reported higher sales than normal.
Some churches in Minnesota have indicated that they are taking proper precautions by making hand sanitizer available, limiting hand shaking following services, keeping churches clean, and urging those who are ill to stay home and listen to worship services on the radio or view them on television.
"Given the rapid spread of the COVID-19/coronavirus and to minimize the risk of contracting or spreading the infection, I am dispensing the faithful from the obligation of attending Mass on Saturday evening or Sunday for the next three weekends of March 14-15, 21-22, and 28-29 in the Diocese of New Ulm," said Bishop John M. LeVoir. "If the faithful decide that gathering for Sunday Mass would constitute a risk to themselves or others, they have the freedom not to attend. However, Masses will continue to be celebrated in our parishes as regularly scheduled."
St. Edward Church in Minneota, St. Eloi Church in Ghent and St. Leo Church in St. Leo are among the parishes of the Diocese of New Ulm.
Symptoms of COVID-19 are coughing, high temperature and shortness of breath. If you have any of those symptoms, consult your physician.
Health officials say the most important thing to do to prevent the spread of the coronavirus is to:
• Stay home if you have cold or flu-like symptoms, and avoid close contact with those who are sick.
• Cover your cough and sneezes with a tissue, or your sleeve.
• Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. If soap and water are unavailable, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains at least 60 percent alcohol.
• Avoid touching your face; especially your eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands.
The 1918 flu pandemic caused more than 25 million deaths in less than 25 weeks.
"Could something similar happen now? Probably not," said The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in a released statement. "We have never been better prepared to fight a pandemic."
While this virus is new and because at this time there is no vaccine, the following are 10 reasons not to panic, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization:
(1) WE KNOW WHAT IT IS: The first cases of AIDS were described in June, 1981 and it took more than two years to identify the virus (HIV) causing the disease. With COVID-19, the first cases of severe pneumonia were reported in China on Dec. 31, 2019 and by Jan. 7, the virus had already been identified. The genome (the complete set of genes or genetic material present in a cell or organism) was available on day 10.
(2) WE KNOW HOW TO DETECT THE VIRUS: Since Jan. 13, a test to detect the virus has been available.
(3) THE SITUATION IS IMPROVING IN CHINA: The strong control and isolation measures imposed by China are paying off. For several weeks now, the number of cases diagnosed every day is decreasing. A very detailed epidemiological follow-up is being carried out in other countries; outbreaks are very specific to areas, which can allow them to be controlled more easily.
(4) EIGHTY PERCENT OF CASES ARE MILD: This disease causes no symptoms or is mild in 80 percent of cases. Of course, in 14 percent, it can cause severe pneumonia and in five percent, it can become critical or even fatal. It is still unclear what the death rate may be. But it could be lower than some estimates so far.
(5) PEOPLE RECOVER: Much of the reported data relates to the increase in the number of confirmed cases and the number of deaths, but most infected people are cured. There are 13 times more cured cases than deaths, and that proportion is increasing.
(6) SYMPTOMS APPEAR MILD IN CHILDREN: Only three percent of cases occur in people under 20, and mortality under 40 is only 0.2 percent. Symptoms are so mild in children it can go unnoticed.
(7) THE VIRUS CAN BE WIPED CLEAN: The virus can be effectively inactivated from surfaces with a solution of ethanol (62-71 percent alcohol), hydrogen peroxide (0.5 percent), or sodium hypochloride (0.1 percent bleach), in just one minute. Frequent hand-washing with soap and water is the most effective way to avoid contagion.
(8) SCIENCE IS ON IT, GLOBALLY: After just over a month, 164 articles could be accessed in PubMed on COVID-19, as well as many others available in repositories of articles not yet reviewed. They are preliminary works on vaccines, treatments, epidemiology, genetics and phylogeny, diagnosis, clinical aspects, and more. These articles were written by some 700 authors and distributed throughout the planet. It is cooperative science, shared and open.
(9) THERE ARE ALREADY VACCINE PROTOTYPES: Our ability to design new vaccines is spectacular. There are already more than eight projects underway seeking a vaccine against the new coronavirus. There are groups that work on vaccination projects against similar viruses. The vaccine group of the University of Queensland, in Austrailia, has announced it is already working on a prototype using the technique called "molecular clamp", a novel technology. This is just one example that could allow vaccine production in record time. Prototypes may soon be tested on humans.
(10) ANTIVIRAL TRIALS ARE UNDERWAY: Vaccines are preventive. Right now, the treatment of people who are sick is important. There are already more than 80 clinical trials analyzing coronavirus treatments. These are antivirals that have been used for other infections, which are already approved and that we know are safe. One of those that has already been tested in humans is remdesivir, a broad-spectrum antiviral still under study, which has been tested against Ebola and SARS/MERS.