Tool Shows Your Risk Of Coronavirus Spread In Richfield

RICHFIELD, MN —Minnesota's recent surge in coronavirus cases and deaths shows little sign of slowing down. On Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving, health officials reported 72 deaths in Minnesota. That number ties the state record for daily deaths, which was set Thursday.

A total of 6,399 new cases were reported as well.

On Friday, Gov. Tim Walz's administration began enforcing the "four-week pause" on social activities, in-person dining, sports, and gym usage as a way to combat the latest coronavirus spike.

What is your risk of exposure?

Researchers from several universities have created an event risk planning tool for every county in the nation. The map shows the risk of coronavirus transmission based on an event's size and location.

A new tool shows the estimated chance — between 0 and 100 percent — that you'll encounter at least one person with the coronavirus at an event in your county. You can reduce the risk by wearing a mask, distancing and gathering outdoors in smaller groups, researchers said.

As of the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, if you were to attend an event with 15 people in Hennepin County, there would be a 50 percent chance that someone at the event would have the virus, according to the COVID-19 Event Risk Assessment Planning Tool.

If you hang out with ten people, the chance drops to 37 percent.

Two Georgia Institute of Technology professors led the creation of the project, and their team included researchers from Stanford University and the Applied Bioinformatics Laboratory.

"By default we assume there are five times more cases than are being reported," the research team said in a statement. "In places with less testing availability, that bias may be higher."

Use the COVID-19 "Event Risk Assessment Planning Tool" here.

Amber Fisher, Patch Staff, contributed to this report