Minnesota

Minnesota whooping cough numbers highest in eight years

Published

2 months ago

October 16, 2024

Minnesota whooping cough numbers highest in eight years

MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota is seeing the highest number of whooping cough cases in eight years.

The state health department reports more than a thousand cases of the respiratory infection so far this year. Last year, there were only 61 cases.

Of the more than 1,019 cases of whooping cough this year, the latest numbers from the Minnesota Department of Health show the vast majority — about 37% — are in Hennepin County.

Meanwhile, the University of Minnesota has fewer than ten reported cases. This week the university sent a message to students with how to protect themselves.

“Every few years, I’d say six to eight years, we do see an uptick in the whooping cough rates,” said Dr. Liz Placzek, a pediatrician and medical director at Children’s Minnesota’s West St. Paul clinic. “And this happens to be that year.”

She said the illness can begin like a cold, but the difference is that whooping cough is a cough that is going to persist, and going to worsen.

The only way whooping cough is treated is with antibiotics. If it goes untreated, it can cause pneumonia, infections, and even death.

While the whooping cough vaccine is given during childhood, Placzek says adults should be getting a booster every ten years.

“We see it really in people who are a little bit removed from their last dose of that vaccine that their immunity probably waned a little bit and so they’re more succeptable to getting that infection,” said Placzek.

While the majority of cases have been in vaccinated individuals, Victor Cruz, a senior rpidemiologist with the Minnesota Department of Health, says the vaccine can still lower symptom length and severity.

“The rates of hospitalization in Minnesota are very very low,” Cruz said. “Due to mainly vaccination and also good treatment and identification of cases by health care providers.”

Placzek said being proactive is key to lowering infection numbers.

“Cover your cough, wear your mask, know good hand hygiene,” she said.

She also said to reach out to your doctor or your child’s pediatrician if you have questions about their vaccination status.

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Minnesota

NEXT Weather: 10 p.m. report for Minnesota on Dec. 24, 2024

Published

6 hours ago

December 25, 2024

Press Room

NEXT Weather: 10 p.m. report for Minnesota on Dec. 24, 2024 – CBS Minnesota

Watch CBS News

Meteorologist Lisa Meadows says high temperatures will be in the 30s for Christmas day, with patchy fog in the morning.

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Minnesota

An Unusual Airport Is Closing in Minnesota

Published

14 hours ago

December 24, 2024

Press Room

An Unusual Airport Is Closing in Minnesota

A small airport with a bigger claim to fame is closing in northern Minnesota after more than a half-century of operation. The Piney-Pinecreek Border Airport is so named because its runway crosses the US-Canada border, reports Minnesota Public Radio. In fact, it’s been hailed as “the world’s first binational airport,” notes the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Despite the bragging rights, however, the airport has been mostly used by hunters and fishermen, and the cost of maintenance has proven to be too much. The airport has a 3,297-foot runway, of which 2,350 feet are in Minnesota and the rest in Canada, per the Grand Forks Herald.

“It’s a tough decision to close an airport ever, but the evidence was all there that now was the time,” says Ryan Gaug of the Minnesota Department of Transportation. The airport opened in 1953 and is one of six now that straddle the border—but only Piney-Pinecreek has a paved runway. “It’s always been the No. 1 fun fact that I’ve shared with friends, family, coworkers, colleagues here at MnDOT,” says Gaug. The agency has jointly owned the airport with the municipality of Piney, Manitoba, in Canada, but the town ended the arrangement because it was unable to meet the cost of maintenance. As such, “a colorful era in the history of Minnesota aviation” ends on Friday, per the Herald. (More Minnesota stories.)

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Minnesota

Two St. Stephen residents involved in injury crash on Highway 55 near Buffalo

Published

1 day ago

December 24, 2024

Press Room

Two St. Stephen residents involved in injury crash on Highway 55 near Buffalo

Two St. Stephen residents were involved in an accident Christmas Eve morning.

The accident took place at roughly 7 a.m. Tuesday at the intersection of Minnesota Highway 55 and Highway 25 in Buffalo, according to the Minnesota State Patrol. Road conditions were listed as wet at the time of the accident.

St. Stephen’s Hunter Merten, 24, and Amber Burns, 25, were heading west on Highway 55 when their Ford F150 collided with a Jeep Grand Cherokee. The Jeep was heading east on Highway 55, and was allegedly turning northbound onto Highway 25 at the time of the accident.

The Jeep’s driver, 22-year-old Dakota Dimond of Maple Lake, was transported to Buffalo Hospital for non-life threatening injuries, according to the incident report. Burns was also taken to the hospital for non-life threatening injuries.

All persons involved were wearing seatbelts.

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