COVID Tops Sports and News in KDHL Region

On the KDHL AM Minnesota program today we counted down the top 5 news and top 5 sports stories of 2020.  #1 on both lists was the impact COVID-19 had on our world.  Kind of a no-brainer don't you think?

For a period of time in May Rice County, Minnesota was listed among the nation's top places for COVID growth.  Rice County Public Health told us at the time the county, "Has had a rapid rate increase in the last two weeks, which appears somewhat artificially inflated related to earlier limited testing capacity."

The first COVID-19 case confirmed in Minnesota was on March 6, 2020.

The first confirmed case of COVID-19 in Rice County was March 18, 2020.

As of December 30, 2020 approximately 66 percent of Rice County cases are people with a Faribault zip code.  Approximately 19 percent are from a Northfield zip code.  The disparity has been evident since the beginning of the pandemic.

Speculation for this difference is more Faribault area people have been tested than those living in the Northfield area.

The average age of a person with COVID-19 in Rice County has been 40 years old.  190 of the approximately 55 hundred people testing positive had serious enough cases to be hospitalized.  38 of those people have required to be in intensive care.  Average age for hospitalizations and those in ICU has been 60.

Other area county case numbers and deaths from COVID-19 are:

• Goodhue  3.023 total cases             41 deaths
• Dakota     30.071 cases                  275 deaths
• Le Sueur    1,941 cases                    15 deaths
• Scott         10,947 cases                    80 deaths
• Steele         2,498 cases                     9 deaths
• Waseca      1,747 cases                    12 deaths
• Wabasha    1,484 cases                      2 deaths
• Dodge         1,159 cases                      4 deaths
• Ramsey     36,918 cases                 680 deaths
• Hennepin   85,878 cases                1,370 deaths

#2 News story was the George Floyd protests following his death in the custody of Minneapolis Police.

#3 The Archer House River Inn fire in Northfield.

#4 A number of area tragedies led by the shooting of Waseca Police Officer Arik Matson.

#5  The 2020 General Election.

I hope you enjoy the Top 5 News and Top 5 Sports Stories of 2020 for KDHL News and Sports.  The first segment of the program is below:

Below is the next segment :

Below is the final segment: