FAIRMONT– There’s some positive news to share on the local Covid-19 front. Earlier this week, Community Health and Human Services of Faribault and Martin Counties announced it had the best weekly report since the end of August 2021.

For Martin County, the organization had data on 48 confirmed positive cases for the week of Feb. 13 to Feb. 19. This is down significantly from the week of Jan. 23 to Jan. 29 when it was reported there were 201 active cases in the county.

The January high was due to the Omicron variant which affected much of the rest of the state and brought back indoor mask mandates for the metro area.

However, now at the end of February, Public Health Sanitarian, Tim Langer, said, “We’ve obviously reached the peak of this wave and are going down and will hopefully continue to go down.”

He said there’s still some unknowns, especially in regards to the BA.2 sub-variant of the Omicron coronavirus variant which has had a big impact on other parts of the world

“It spreads easier, believe it or not, than Omicron BA.1,” Langer said.

He said while we’re in a good place now, it’s also likely that other variants will continue to show up. As for other doses after the suggested booster, Langer said it remains to be seen if they will come out on an annual basis or not.

“The importance of the booster shot is clear. There’s compelling evidence that it prevents severe illness and death,” Langer said.

While there is some level of immunity after testing positive for Covid-19, Langer acknowledged that there have been repeat cases, but said there is protection in having the illness.

“Our hope is that the sheer number of cases in conjunction with the people who have been vaccinated, hopefully we have a population-based level of immunity moving forward,” Langer said.

With case numbers down, it may be easy to feel that Covid is no longer a concern. However the virus is still out there and Langer suggested people continue to follow mitigation strategies.

“It’s still a good practice to stay home if you’re sick and get tested,” he said.

At-home test can be purchased at many stores or are available through the federal government. Langer said people can still get tested at healthcare facilities as well.

“We still want to minimize the spread of the virus,” he said.

The county and the world has come a long way since the emergence of the coronavirus two years ago. Minnesota saw its first case in March 2020 and it wasn’t long after that that Covid came to this part of the state.

“Martin County was hit really hard in the beginning and we were shaking our heads saying, ‘why Martin County,'” Langer said.

Unfortunately, Martin County also had the seventh highest fatality rate in the nation for a period of time. Hopefully that part is well behind us now.

“We’re in a good place right now but we need to remain diligent and continue to take precautions,” Langer said.