An intensive care unit nurse from Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis said critically ill COVID-19 patients from around the state waited hours for ambulances or medical hospitals to deliver them to her and her colleagues last weekend.

Kelley Anaas, a registered nurse who’s spent the last eight months in the COVID-19 ICU, made an emotional plea to Minnesotans during the Minnesota Department of Health’s Monday, Nov. 16, media briefing to do their part by following public health directives and changing holiday plans.

“Your ability to sip a beer at a party with friends is not more important than children going to school, than your friend’s parent, than your ability to celebrate the holidays with your grandmother — next year,” Anaas said. “Please Minnesota, stay home this Thanksgiving so you don’t have to ring in the New Year with me.”

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Anaas said she’d just spent 32 hours at work over the weekend, a stretch during which they intubated more patients than those who were transferred out to other medical floors in the hospital. She noted patients arrived from all over the state, including Brainerd.

“I watched this weekend as my ICU filled up with critically ill COVID-19 patients,” Anaas said. “Suddenly, we were transferring the remaining patients not requiring enhanced airborne isolation to other intensive care units in the hospital to make room for COVID patients flowing in from all corners of the state. Those patients we made space for waited hours for an ambulance or a medical helicopter to take them to us from hospitals in Stacy, Brainerd, Bemidji, everywhere around the state of Minnesota. We intubated more patients than we transferred out to the medical floors. And we said goodbye to patients we’ve been caring for for weeks.

“Yes, these things have always been part of my job, and yes, to a certain degree, I signed up for the role I’m filling today. But I did that with the trust in my employer, elected officials and community that I serve would be there to show up and protect me.”

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Anaas said until the pandemic began, “nurse” was her only professional title.

“Suddenly I had earned a new designation: ‘frontline worker,’” she said. “Honestly, I’ve always found this name laughable, as it implies there’s a second line of us waiting in the wings. Minnesota, we are your only line.”

Anaas implored people to listen to nurses, who she said were historically one of the most trusted professions in the nation.

“Minnesota, lawmakers, mask-wearers and COVID deniers, I’m here today to say you need to believe nurses when we tell you these things are happening and trust what we are asking for in support so that we can best serve our patients, you and your loved ones,” Anaas said.

Dr. Peter Henry, chief medical officer at Essentia Health based at the Brainerd hospital, responded to a request for more information concerning patient transfers with a prepared statement Tuesday night.

“We have a long history of appropriately transferring patients to a higher level of care to other hospitals within the Essentia health system, and to other Level I and Level II hospitals as needed to provide appropriate patient care that is out of scope for a rural Level III community hospital,” Henry wrote. “Most transfers going to other hospitals are not directly related to a patient’s COVID-19 status, rather to address higher level medical and surgical needs.

“Our patient transfers to Abbott Northwestern are typically related to cardiac and stroke patients requiring specific interventions. We have the expertise and well trained staff to provide the current standard of care for COVID-19 patients here in Brainerd in both ICU and non-ICU situations.”

Anaas said until the pandemic began, “nurse” was her only professional title.

“Suddenly I had earned a new designation: ‘frontline worker,’” she said. “Honestly, I’ve always found this name laughable, as it implies there’s a second line of us waiting in the wings. Minnesota, we are your only line.”

Anaas implored people to listen to nurses, who she said were historically one of the most trusted professions in the nation.

“Minnesota, lawmakers, mask-wearers and COVID deniers, I’m here today to say you need to believe nurses when we tell you these things are happening and trust what we are asking for in support so that we can best serve our patients, you and your loved ones,” Anaas said.

Area cases

Two more area deaths were reported Tuesday in Mille Lacs County. Both of those who succumbed to complications of COVID-19 were in their late 70s.

In terms of case numbers, Morrison County overtook Todd County in total cases reported for the first time, sitting at 1,480 cases to Todd’s 1,478. As the more populous county, Morrison’s per capita case count of 443.3 per 10,000 remains well below Todd’s, which as of Tuesday sat at 599.74 cases per 10,000 residents. The area county with the lowest per capita case rate is Cass County, which was 334.46 per 10,000. Crow Wing County broke the 400 mark in that statistic Tuesday.

As of Tuesday’s update from county officials, there were 12 more hospitalizations of county residents reported since Friday. Since Nov. 2, the first day this month for which data was available, hospitalizations have almost doubled in the county, growing from 64 to 118. That’s an average of nearly four hospitalizations each day.

COVID-19 data as of Nov. 15

• Aitkin — 537 (+119 since Friday, Nov. 13), with 13 (+3) deaths.
  
• Cass — 996 (+163), with eight deaths.
• Crow Wing — 2,422 (+396), with 25 (+1) deaths.
• Mille Lacs — 1,110 (+143), with 29 (+7) deaths.
• Morrison — 1,480 (+211), with 16 (+1) deaths.
• Todd — 1,478 (+133), with 12 (+2) deaths.
• Wadena — 577 (+98), with six deaths.

NOTE: These numbers are cumulative since March 21 and many are out of isolation.