As of this morning, the death toll attributed to COVID-19 by the Minnesota authorities stands pat at 70. Forty-seven of the 70 died in nursing homes or assisted-care living facilities, a fact which comports with the median age of decedents: 88. See the Minnesota Department of Health COVID-19 Situation Update.
The rationale advanced by Minnesota Governor Tim Walz to support the shutdown he has imposed does not withstand scrutiny. First he projected 74,000 COVID-19. Then he let on that 50,000 would die even with the shutdown. A few weeks later, with the model rejiggered, he returned to extend the shutdown and project some 22,000 deaths on his best-case scenario.
Occasionally along the way, Governor Walz has also let on that the numbers aren’t to be taken seriously. Rather, they are “directional.”
Kevin Roche is the former general counsel of UnitedHealth Group and chief executive officer of its Ingenix division. Kevin has dug into his own pocket to buy a Star Tribune digital ad (below) linking to his long post “STOP THE ECONOMIC SHUTDOWN NOW AND ADOPT A BETTER STRATEGY.” Kevin comments specifically on Governor Walz’s April 13 press briefing in his Healthy Skeptic post “More Minnesota madness.”
Quotable quote: (from Kevin’s Healthy Skeptic Post): “When challenged on the death estimates of 22,000 in Minnesota, while only about 60,000 are estimated nationally, the Governor appropriately pointed out that different models with different time frames were used to get those numbers. But he then went on to say the Minnesota model wasn’t meant to predict deaths. This is astounding, all the Governor has done is use the number of deaths projected to justify his orders. He has constantly referred to the number of deaths, that is all he has referred to; I haven’t once heard mention of the number of people out of work, for example. But now he tells us the model wasn’t meant to predict deaths? Well, what is it for then?”
