Grim milestone: Minnesota reaches 10,000 COVID-19 deaths

Minnesota doctors on COVID: 'We are exhausted and heartbroken and terrified'

Doctors from across Minnesota are pleading with people not to add to the count as the state topped a grim milestone of 10,000 deaths from COVID-19.

ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - Minnesota recorded its 10,000th COVID-19 death Wednesday since the start of the pandemic.

At least 10,018 Minnesotans have died from illnesses related to COVID, with more than 1,100 of those deaths coming since the start of November amid a fall surge in cases, state health officials reported.

Minnesota hit the milestone as doctors from around the state gathered at Hennepin County Medical Center to plead with people to get their booster shots, wear masks indoors, and convince hesitant family members to do the same. The doctors said their intensive-care units are so full, there are few places to put car crash victims or heart attack patients.

"I can't wrap my brain around 10,000 deaths," said Dr. Laurel Ries of M Health Fairview in St. Paul. "How can I even imagine 10,000 families -- moms and dads and siblings? And it's not just COVID -- our hospitals are full for everyone."

As of Wednesday, 1,645 people are hospitalized with the virus, which is near a 2021 high and 88 percent of the all-time high reached on Thanksgiving weekend 2020.

"We are full, and we are exhausted," said Dr. Jack Lyons of CentraCare St. Cloud Hospital. "For a patient to get admitted to our ICU now, someone either has to transfer out or die."

COVID-19 spike pushes short-staffed Minnesota hospitals to brink

As Minnesota experiences a worst-in-the-nation COVID-19 spike, hospitals struggling with staffing are being stressed with cases.

Some relief may be on the horizon: newly reported cases have fallen over the past two weeks since peaking in the days after Thanksgiving. Minnesota's seven-day positivity rate, which measures the ratio of tests coming back positive, has declined from a high of 10.8 percent on Dec. 1 to slightly more than 8 percent for tests taken this past weekend.

But that hasn't helped hospitals yet because hospitalization trends lag cases by two to three weeks. Wednesday, the doctors said they were concerned that holiday gatherings might lead to another increase in cases.

"Every day, we think that it can't possibly get harder, and it can't possibly get worse," said Dr. Shirlee Xie, a hospitalist at HCMC who broke down as she described her experience. "And every day, we come back and it's harder, and it's worse."

The federal government has sent teams to three Minnesota hospitals and the Minnesota National Guard is staffing some decompression sites for discharged patients. But the staffing shortage, which has been the major constraint during this fall's surge, persists.

The shortage is largely due to factors other than health systems' employee vaccine mandates, the doctors said.

"We absolutely have shortages of staff. No question," said Dr. Hannah Lichtsinn at HCMC. "But it's been going on since before the vaccine mandates were in place."

Dr. Alice Mann, an emergency room doctor at Northfield Hospitals and Clinics and a former state lawmaker, said those who blamed the vaccine mandates were spreading a "false narrative."