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Minnesota’s COVID-19 death toll continued its awful climb Friday,

, while the number of Minnesotans currently in intensive care jumped to 259, near its high from earlier in the week.

Nearly 600 Minnesotans remain hospitalized.

The newest numbers come as health officials expect a spike in cases stemming from the massive protests over the 

, who died Monday in Minneapolis police custody. 

Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm said that while she understands the pain and anger people are feeling over Floyd’s death while in Minneapolis police custody and respects their desire to protest, she’s concerned that people gathering in the streets are at risk of getting the virus and transmitting it. 

“I’m understanding the forecast is for very large protests this weekend, with a lot of people coming in from across the state and around the country and gathering in large groups,” she said. “That’s almost sure to have an impact on furthering spread.”

Malcolm reiterated her plea for people to wear masks and socially distance but acknowledged doing those things will be very difficult in the situation that’s playing out in Minneapolis and St. Paul.

Officials continue to pay close attention to the daily intensive care counts, a key metric, as they work to manage the spread of the disease so it doesn’t overwhelm the state’s health care system.

They’ve said Minnesota’s two-month stay-at-home order helped buy time for the state to secure supplies and prepare for the expected surge in hospitalizations and ICU cases, which had been climbing this week.

Malcolm recently noted that intensive care beds were filling up in the Twin Cities metro area. Officials said Tuesday that 87 percent of ICU beds in the metro area are now in use, much of that from COVID-19 cases, while other regions in the state still had available capacity.

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Asked whether she was happy so far with the state's 

 to stop the spread of the virus in long-term care facilities, Malcolm said there are some emerging bright spots in the numbers.

She said a few facilities have no cases at all, and roughly half that do have cases have only one or two. And, over half of those facilities no longer have any cases. 

In the larger facilities that have had a lot of cases, Malcolm said a third of them have had no new cases in a week.

"That, too, is a measure of success,” she said, “How well are facilities able to manage cases and how good a job are we doing in supporting them in doing that."

Malcolm acknowledged that the number of deaths in long-term care facilities is unacceptably high, but also suggested that Minnesota may be posting higher numbers in this area because the state is counting these deaths differently from other states.

She noted that other states don't count someone from a long-term care facility who dies of COVID-19 in a hospital as a "long-term care facility death." Minnesota does.

Many of the recent outbreaks outside the Twin Cities metro area are focused around meatpacking plants. Officials have intensified testing in those hot spots, uncovering more infections.

In southwestern Minnesota’s Nobles County, where an outbreak hit Worthington’s massive JBS pork plant, about 1 in 15 people have tested positive for COVID-19. In mid-April, there were just a handful of cases. By Friday, there were 1,503 confirmed cases, although the numbers are rising at a much slower rate than in previous weeks.

 with expanded hygiene and health monitoring measures.

, where COVID-19 cases tied to two packing plants — Pilgrim’s Pride poultry plant in Cold Spring and Jennie-O Turkey in Melrose — have skyrocketed.

An undisclosed number of workers at both plants have tested positive for the virus. There were about 55 confirmed cases in Stearns County two weeks ago. By Thursday, confirmed cases were at 2,001 with 13 deaths.

Kandiyohi County in west-central Minnesota is also seeing cases continue to climb more than a month after officials with the Jennie-O turkey processing plant there said some employees had tested positive for the coronavirus. The county had confirmed three COVID-19 cases then.

On Friday, the Health Department reported 486 people have now tested positive.

While the counts in those counties are high relative to their population, officials say the growth in new cases in those areas appears to be stabilizing.

In other counties, however, case counts are climbing rapidly. Todd County, in central Minnesota, has seen the number of confirmed cases leap from just a few at the start of the month to nearly 302 as of Friday.

MN Supreme Court sets deadline over Walz recall 

The Minnesota Supreme Court has set deadlines for submitting information related to a recall petition of Gov. Tim Walz.

A petition filed last week with 32 Minnesota voter signatures seeks to remove Walz from office over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic. It says Walz exceeded his powers and infringed on rights with restrictions he imposed. Justices say they want supporting evidence in hand by Friday. 

The governor’s defenders have until Tuesday to make a counter-case. In Minnesota, there is a high bar for a recall of elected officials.

Court dismisses business challenge to Walz COVID-19 curbs

A coalition of businesses that challenged Minnesota coronavirus restrictions have suffered a legal setback.

The state Court of Appeals dismissed the lawsuit filed by the Free Minnesota Small Business Coalition, which challenged orders imposed by Gov. Tim Walz. The appeals court said it lacked jurisdiction to review the validity of the Walz orders. 

The groups had challenged them on equal protection grounds and said Walz exceeded his authority with the curbs on business activity.

Another lawsuit is pending in federal court.

Contact tracers key to slowing the spread of COVID-19. Meet one of them:

 Effective testing and contact tracing are considered critical components of managing the spread of COVID-19. The job of contact tracing can mean long hours and stressful conversations.

Data in these graphs are based off Minnesota Department of Health cumulative totals released at 11 a.m. daily. You can find more detailed statistics on COVID-19 at the 

The coronavirus is transmitted through respiratory droplets, coughs and sneezes, similar to the way the flu can spread.

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How it compares with other diseases in 5 charts

Government and medical leaders are urging people to wash their hands frequently and well, refrain from touching their faces, cover their coughs, disinfect surfaces and avoid large crowds, all in an effort to curb the virus’ rapid spread.

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The newest numbers come as health officials expect a spike in cases stemming from the protests over George Floyd’s death. 

State health officials said Thursday said they are expecting a spike in coronavirus cases stemming from massive protests in Minneapolis and St. Paul over the death of George Floyd.

Latest on COVID-19 in MN: 996 dead; intensive care cases rise

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