(CSi)  Governor Doug Burgum held his weekly COVID-19 News Briefing Thursday afternoon at the State Capital in Bismarck.

North Dakota’s death toll from COVID-19 neared 500 on Thursday, with health officials reporting an additional 11 deaths. The North Dakota Department of Health also reported six hospitalizations in the last day due to the coronavirus, increasing the total number of patients in medical facilities to a record 184. October has been the deadliest month to date from the coronavirus, accounting for 228 of the 499 deaths recorded since the pandemic began. Health officials reported a record 1,222 new infections from the virus on Thursday, and a daily positivity rate of 15.6%.

Burgum said North Dakota is in the mist of a COVID storm, as positive case increases continue to climb.  He added that northern tear states are having residents move indoors, with greater chances of spreading the virus in a confined space, and not masking a perfect environment to spread the virus.  He noted that environment lingering over the upcoming holidays, plus travel to and from North Dakota.  Plus indoor sporting events.

He said local leadership is supporting personal responsibility to being safe and limiting transmissible moments.

He said continuing education in school depends on making responsible choices, along with saving lives of high risk individuals, and longterm care residents and healthcare workers.  Maintaining hospital bed capacity also depends on mitigating the spread of the virus, leading to hospitalizations.

NDDoH

COVID-19 Stats

Thurs. Oct. 29, 2020

11- am

Barnes

New Positives   24

Total Positives 386

Active Cases 72

Recovered 306

 

Stutsman

One New Death, Stutsman, Man in his 50’s

Total Deaths to date 7

 

New Positives  48

Total Positives 946

Active Cases  151

Recovered  738

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

BY THE NUMBERS

8,402 – Total Tests from Yesterday*

845,567 – Total tests completed since the pandemic began

1,222 – Positive Individuals from Yesterday*****

41,130 – Total positive individuals since the pandemic began

15.62% – Daily Positivity Rate**

 

6,771 Total Active Cases

+524 Individuals from yesterday

688 – Individuals Recovered from Yesterday (550 with a recovery date of yesterday****)

33,860 – Total recovered since the pandemic began

184 – Curren­tly Hospitalized

+6 – Individuals from yesterday

11 – New Deaths*** (499 total deaths since the pandemic began)


INDIVIDUALS WHO DIED WITH COVID-19

  • Man in his 80s from Cass County.
  • Man in his 80s from Dickey County.
  • Man in his 90s from Emmons County.
  • Man in his 80s from Logan County.
  • Man in his 50s from Stutsman County.
  • Man in his 60s from McLean County.
  • Man in his 70s from Oliver County.
  • Man in his 60s from Ramson County.
  • Woman in her 80s from Ward County.
  • Man in his 90s from Ward County.
  • Woman in her 80s from Ward County.


COUNTIES WITH NEW POSITIVE CASES REPORTED THURSDAY

 

  • Adams County – 5
  • Barnes County – 24
  • Benson County – 6
  • Bottineau County – 6
  • Bowman County – 3
  • Burke County – 8
  • Burleigh County – 169
  • Cass County – 278
  • Cavalier County – 1
  • Dickey County – 9
  • Dunn County – 5
  • Eddy County – 1
  • Emmons County – 4
  • Foster County – 9
  • Golden Valley County – 1
  • Grand Forks County – 97
  • Grant County – 5
  • Griggs County – 4
  • Hettinger County – 2
  • Kidder County – 2
  • LaMoure County – 3
  • McHenry County – 9
  • McIntosh County – 1
  • McKenzie County – 10
  • McLean County – 24
  • Mercer County – 20
  • Morton County – 60
  • Mountrail County – 6
  • Nelson County – 2
  • Oliver County – 3
  • Pembina County – 9
  • Pierce County – 2
  • Ramsey County – 20
  • Ransom County – 20
  • Renville County – 4
  • Richland County – 23
  • Rolette County – 23
  • Sargent County – 5
  • Sheridan County – 3
  • Sioux County – 8
  • Stark County – 9
  • Steele County – 9
  • Stutsman County – 48
  • Towner County – 7
  • Traill County – 11
  • Walsh County – 44
  • Ward County – 165
  • Wells County – 17
  • Williams County – 18

 

* 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.

Burgum advises those who are active cases, and close contacts to active positive cases  to be responsible and isolate for the prescribed time frame.

Other Topics Covered:

With County Risk Levels, Burgum outlined 21 new risk level changes.

Stutsman County was moved from green low risk to yellow moderate risk level.

Barnes County remains in yellow, moderate risk level.

LaMoure County moves from yellow moderate to orange high risk.

Kidder County from green low risk, to yellow moderate.

Logan County remains in the green low risk.

Ransom County moves from blue new normal, to green low risk.

Griggs County goes from blue new normal to green low risk.

That brings to 24 the number of North Dakota’s 53 counties now deemed high risk. The guidelines are only recommendations and not enforced.

Click here for NDDoH information.

 

He pointed to Dr. Birx meeting with North Dakota officials this week as she emphases identifying those asymptomatic positive cases, and taking them out of the public, not spreading the virus.

Burgum pointed cities including Jamestown and Valley City with mask measures in place.

Pace Recovery  II

The Legislative Budget Committee approved the application deadline for the COVID-19 PACE Recovery II  (CPR II) program to November 30, 2020. They also added $20 million to assist businesses with interest payments accrued between April 1, 2020 and September 30, 2020. The program is funded by CARES Act dollars assigned to Bank of North Dakota.

North Dakota business owners may work with their local lender to apply for funding of up to $50,000 that covers the accrued interest payments. The funds do not need to be repaid.

Business owners will be asked to submit comparable revenue between April 1-Sept. 30, 2019, and the same time period in 2020. Upon closure of the application period, BND will apply a formula to award the funds that ensures businesses with the largest percentage decrease in revenue will benefit. The awards will be given based on that percentage until they have been expended.

Hospitality ERG

The North Dakota Department of Commerce announced the second round of the Economic Resiliency Grant (ERG) also known as the Hospitality ERG.

Due to the continuing need of assistance, the second round of the ERG will focus on reimbursing hospitality businesses that were directly impacted by Executive Order 2020-06. This includes all restaurants, bars, breweries, cafes and similar on-site dining establishments.

Additionally, the Hospitality ERG will also focus on businesses affected by the closures such as theaters, music and entertainment venues, and professional production companies that support major venue meetings and events.

School Aid

State School Superintendent Kirsten Baesler announced $33.8 million in new aid for North Dakota’s schools, which may be spent on mental health support, technology, building ventilation improvements, and other needs arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The “resiliency grants” are the latest installment of a school pandemic aid package that has totaled almost $94 million to date. The sum includes $30.1 million that was distributed to schools in April; another $30 million endorsed by North Dakota lawmakers in September; and Wednesday’s approval of another $33.8 million in school assistance.

“The $94 million provided to schools by the state provides much-needed money for our teachers, and into the classrooms, where it can do the most good,” Baesler said.

Schools also may use the last two aid packages on a much broader range of needs, Baesler said. Originally, the $30 million September aid infusion could be spent only on school staffing expenses, such as salaries for increased custodial and public health needs.