By Rich Larson, News Director
Covid-19 cases continued to skyrocket across the country over the weekend. On Friday Rice County Director of public Health Deb Purfeerst said that
the rate of increase here is reflective of that same surge.
From October 11 to October 24, that rate of new cases was measured at 26 for every 10,000 residents. From October 25-November 7, that rate nearly quadrupled to 102 new cases per 10,000 residents.
Just as troubling is the rate of hospitalizations. Since Rice County’s first reported case of Covid-19 on March 18, Purfeerst said that there had been 106 hospitalizations in Rice County. Of those, 22 have occurred since November 1.
“A little more than 20% of our hospitalizations has just been in the last two weeks. That’s concerning because we need hospital beds available to care for people for a variety of reasons. We don’t want those settings to be so full that they can’t accommodate the need in our community.”
Purfeerst said those numbers were most significant in the demographic of 18-35-year-olds. Purfeerst said that the transmission of the virus is now decidedly tied to social events.
“Over 70% of Covid outbreaks in Minnesota from June to November have a direct link back to weddings, private social gatherings or late nights out at the bars and restaurants.”
With 3-4 new cases linked to every positive test, and with the Thanksgiving holiday coming up next week, the rate of increase is not expected to slow down anytime soon.
She went on to say that these numbers were part of the data used by Governor Walz when he decided on his latest round of Covid-19 restrictions. She said that not everyone may be happy about the governor’s restrictions, but public health is a top priority.
“I know that for some the restrictions are feeling as though it’s too much of an overreach, and it’s personally annoying to them, but we need to look at the big picture of this. It is concerning, and in particular to me, the concern is the hospital bed availability and keeping our most vulnerable population safe.”
Today the Rice County website reported the total positive cases reported in Rice County at 2,874. That is an increase of 401 cases over the weekend. The U.S. added one million new cases over the last six days.
Second Reading of franchise fee ordinances tomorrow night
The Northfield City Council will re-convene tomorrow night, and just as last week, one of the chief items on the agenda will be the implementation of utility franchise fees to supplant the city’s current assessment program.
The council staged a public hearing on the matter during their meeting last week, However, despite the council’s earnest solicitation of input from the public over the weeks leading up to that meeting, they received very few comments. Tomorrow night will likely be the public’s last opportunity to give the council feedback on the matter. Passage of an ordinance of this type requires two readings. The ordinances – one to place a franchise fee on electric services and one on gas – passed with a 4-3 vote last week. Should the council vote the same way tomorrow night, the ordinances will go into effect in March.
Currently property owners who directly benefit from a street project are assessed 25-50% of the project cost. Those assessments run about $6800 on average but can be substantially higher.
The monthly fees attached to the utility bill would run as little as $5.50 for residential bills and as much as $2,879.00 on large commercial and industrial customers.
The best way to register an opinion with the council is through the eComment button on the City Council page in the City’s website. The City Council Page also offers links to email individual council members
Reese discusses the future of the Archer House Building
The fire that devastated Northfield’s iconic Archer House River Inn on Thursday night remained on the minds of most Northfielders over the weekend.
Brett Reese, the President of Rebound Hospitality, the company that owns the hotel said on Friday that this was going to be a tough thing to overcome. The Archer House has been a landmark of downtown Northfield for nearly a century-and-a-half, and he knows that, while Rebound Hospitality owns the property, the company is as much a steward of the hotel as the proprietor. The future of the building, he said, is uncertain.
“It’s really too early to tell. Is it a total loss or is it something that is not a total loss, where you can rebuild it? There could be issues with the foundation, with the walls, with the structure and the engineering, so you start there, as to whether you can work with what is there or you can’t. So we’ll just have to see. If we can work with what is there, we’ll do that and bring it back. But, otherwise, if it has to come down, then you have a redevelopment site.”
Reese also expressed heartfelt gratitude to the public for what he called the overwhelming amount of support he and his colleagues had already begun to receive.
