(CSi)  Governor Doug Burgum held his weekly news briefing Thursday morning at the state capital in Bismarck to provide an update on the COVID-19 pandemic in North Dakota.

October 8th, 2020 COVID-19 Press Conference – ND Joint Information Center

Posted by North Dakota Department of Health on Thursday, October 8, 2020

 

He was joined by North Dakota Senate Majority Leader Rich Wardner, Senate Minority Leader Joan Heckaman, District 29 House Majority Leader Chet Pollert of Carrington,and House Minority Leader Josh Boschee.

Burgum outlined changes in county Risk Levels.

Those included Stutsman going from yellow-moderate, returning to green-low risk, as has Richland County.

Moving from Blue-New Normal to Green-Low Risk is LaMoure County.  Meanwhile Dickey County was moved from Green-Low Risk to Yellow-Moderate Risk.

He has said the risk levels are not mandates, but rather guidelines, and go into effect on Friday October 9, 2020.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Burgum moved on by saying that  the test positivity rates in the region, shows North Dakota has the second lowest positivity rate, in the state, but leads the nation in the nation in positive rates in the nation.  He said the state is performing more testings.

NDDoH

COVID-19 Stats

Thurs. Oct. 8, 2020

Posted 9:30  am

Barnes

New Positives  2

Total Positives 262

Active Cases 25

Recovered 236

 

Stutsman

New Positives  9

Total Positives  572

Active Cases 59

Recovered 509

COVID-19 Test Results
The results listed are from the previous day. Additional data can be found on the NDDoH website.

BY THE NUMBERS

6,898 – Total Tests from Yesterday*

686,464 – Total tests completed since the pandemic began

531 – Positive Individuals from Yesterday*****

25,384 – Total positive individuals since the pandemic began

8.09% – Daily Positivity Rate**

 

3,832 Total Active Cases

+126 Individuals from yesterday

395 – Individuals Recovered from Yesterday (194 with a recovery date of yesterday****)

21,242 – Total recovered since the pandemic began

125 – Curren­tly Hospitalized

+9 – Individuals from yesterday

6 – New Deaths*** (310 total deaths since the pandemic began)

INDIVIDUALS WHO DIED WITH COVID-19

  • Woman in her 80s from Burleigh County with underlying health conditions.
  • Female age 10-19 from Mountrail County with underlying health conditions.
  • Woman in her 80s from Stark County with underlying health conditions.
  • Man in his 80s from Ward County with underlying health conditions.
  • Woman in her 90s from Ward County with underlying health conditions.
  • Man in his 50s from Ward County with underlying health conditions.


COUNTIES WITH NEW POSITIVE CASES REPORTED TODAY

  • Adams County – 1
  • Barnes County – 2
  • Benson County – 3
  • Bottineau County – 6
  • Bowman County – 3
  • Burleigh County – 90
  • Cass County – 137
  • Cavalier County – 1
  • Dickey County – 1
  • Divide County – 3
  • Dunn County – 3
  • Eddy County – 1
  • Emmons County – 2
  • Golden Valley County – 10
  • Grand Forks County – 32
  • Hettinger County – 1
  • Kidder County – 1
  • LaMoure County – 3
  • Logan County – 8
  • McHenry County – 1
  • McIntosh County – 1
  • McKenzie County – 12
  • McLean County – 3
  • Mercer County – 7
  • Morton County – 20
  • Mountrail County – 9
  • Nelson County – 1
  • Oliver County – 4
  • Pembina County – 3
  • Ramsey County – 11
  • Ransom County – 1
  • Renville Count – 6
  • Richland County – 4
  • Rolette County – 4
  • Sargent County – 3
  • Sioux County – 1
  • Stark County – 49
  • Stutsman County – 9
  • Traill County – 2
  • Walsh County – 4
  • Ward County – 34
  • Wells County – 2
  • Williams County – 32

 

* Note that this does not include individuals from out of state and has been updated to reflect the most recent information discovered after cases were investigated.

**Individuals who tested positive divided by the total number of people tested who have not previously tested positive (susceptible encounters).

*** Number of individuals who tested positive and died from any cause while infected with COVID-19. There is a lag in the time deaths are reported to the NDDoH.
**** The actual date individuals are officially out of isolation and no longer contagious.

******Totals may be adjusted as individuals are found to live out of state, in another county, or as other information is found during investigation.

For descriptions of these categories, visit the NDDoH dashboard.

 

For the most updated and timely information and updates related to COVID-19, visit the NDDoH website at www.health.nd.gov/coronavirus, follow on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and visit the CDC website at www.cdc.gov/coronavirus.

 

Senator Rich Wardner said, North Dakota has distributed from the federal government, dollars to support North Dakota Businesses, along with support for unenployment funds.

Senate Minority Leader Joan Heckaman talked about essential compensation for front line workers.

House Minority Leader Josh Boschee, said the state legislature has addressed how to best distribute CARES ACT funding, and said he’s hopeful that the federal government will allocate additional funding.

District 29 House Majority Leader Chet Pollert of Carrington, added legislative action concerning distributing $1.25 million in CARES  ACT funding, including holding conversations with the governor’s office, with open dialogues.  He, along with other speakers urged North Dakotans to follow protocols in staying safe, to slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

With hospitalizations due to the virus, Burgum outlined the monitoring of those individuals, and ensuring health care worker staff bed capacity which will be added to the State Health Department’s web site, dashboard.

Dr. Michael LeBeau of Sanford Health in Bismarck noted healthcare frontline workers continuing to be prepared with dealing with the pandemic and caring for patients.

He also urges all North Dakotan to wear masks, and pointed out that North Dakota has recorded it’s first COVID 19 death of a female in her teens.

LeBeau says he understands concerns about the amount of hospital beds available for COVID-19 patients, yet believes medical facilities around the state are ready to adapt to meet the challenge. Sanford Health Bismarck President Michael LeBeau’s comments followed the North Dakota Department of Health’s daily update showing new highs for active cases of COVID-19, newly confirmed cases and coronavirus-related hospitalizations. LeBeau says that although hospitals around the state are competitors, they are working together on additional space and there are no plans to build temporary facilities. He says there may be longer wait times or patients will have to be transferred to another hospital.