Is Minnesota Hitting a Second Coronavirus Second Wave?

By the end of September, Minnesota was seeing a number of days when daily COVID case numbers neared 1,000 or even surpassed it. That had a lot of people wondering: Is Minnesota experiencing a coronavirus second wave?

This question comes as countries across Europe are experiencing a second wave, with a spike in COVID cases–and this after successfully stemming outbreaks earlier in the year.

Dr. Greg Poland, infectious disease specialist at the Mayo Clinic, explains what a coronavirus second wave looks like.

“Second wave means that it has hit a community, moved on to another community and then oftentimes the virus subtly changes and a second—a true second wave occurs,” says Dr. Poland.

So is this what’s happening in Minnesota?

In a sense, this is happening. In a sense not. What we’re seeing—and I think a better word is a resurgence of cases,” says Dr. Poland.

In other words, Minnesota is still in the first wave that never went away and now appears to be ramping up again, fueled in part by kids returning to school and COVID fatigue.

“People are tired of being physically distanced. They want to get back to a normal life,” says Dr. Poland.