By Nathan Daggett / Assistant News Director

There are now 435 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Stearns County due to the increase in available testing that began late last week. These are the results as of May 1 from the Minnesota Department of Health.

The Public Health Division Director for Stearns County, Renee Frauendienst says as testing increases, the county will see more disease.  We knew it was in our community through the illness surveillance project we’ve been doing with CentraCare Health.  Now testing confirmed that.

Testing began with CentraCare Health on April 23, prior to that there were only 18 confirmed cases on April 21. This is a 96% increase in positive tests in that time period.

Stearns County Public Health has been working with CentraCare and the Minnesota Department of Health to help infected individuals trace anyone who has been in contact with them over the last couple of days.

Staff is making sure infected individuals have what they need to remain safely at home.  If you have any questions, call the CentraCare Connect hotline at 320-200-3200.

Also to note as of May 1, Benton County has reported their first death due to COVID-19 and 21 positive tests, Sherburne County has 39 positive tests and Wright County has 43 cases tested with one death.