Morrison County COVID-19 numbers remain on downward track

Morrison County’s COVID-19 numbers continued to plummet this week.

Only 27 new cases were reported in the county during the week of May 14 - 20. The active case rate fell by 49, from 102 on May 13 to 53 on Thursday. There has been a drop of 93 cases since May 6.

As of Tuesday, Morrison County Public Health Director Brad Vold said only six of the county’s active cases were in residents age 65 and older, 81% of whom have been vaccinated against COVID-19.

The county’s active case rate also went down significantly to only 16 people per 10,000 being infected by the virus. The county added two hospitalizations during the May 14 - 20 reporting period — bringing it to 256 since the start of the pandemic — and reported zero deaths for the third consecutive week.

During a report to the Morrison County Board of Commissioners Tuesday, Public Health Nursing Supervisor Cindy Nienaber said she recently cross-checked the hospitalizations with the county’s vaccination records.

“The vast majority of the people that are still getting COVID are unvaccinated,” she said. “We have had a few breakthrough cases, but the breakthrough cases tend to not be the ones that end up in the hospital. That was the goal of vaccination. We do need to continue to promote — and what we’re seeing for hospitalizations now are people in their 30s, 40s, and 50s that are unvaccinated, not our 70-, 80- and 90-year-olds.”

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