Minnesota sees COVID-19 lull this fall, pneumonia in kids

Minnesota is enjoying a lull in respiratory illnesses, albeit ahead of the typical flu season and amid an uptick in “walking pneumonia” cases, particularly among children.

Wastewater testing found a decline over the past month in levels of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, after they had briefly surged to their highest levels in Minnesota since spring 2023, when the pandemic was still considered a public health emergency.

The state’s respiratory illness report on Thursday also showed a decline in COVID cases, hospitalizations and deaths since mid-September.

Doctors, however, have reported more cases of walking pneumonia. Children’s Minnesota saw its case count increase from five in June to 30 in September, and that’s an undercount because testing for walking pneumonia is irregular, said Dr. Chase Shutak, a Children’s pediatrician.

The condition gets its nickname because it involves milder symptoms, such as coughing and chest pain, so infected people are often walking around and doing usual activities. People with walking pneumonia are at risk of infecting others, though, who could suffer breathing problems or other complications.

The Minnesota Department of Health has offered guidance to schools and long-term care facilities on how to prevent infections following an alert by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The federal agency noted that walking pneumonia had diminished during the pandemic but has been on the rise since late 2023.

Doctors and researchers have debated which antibiotic to prescribe, or whether to treat walking pneumonia at all given how many children recover on their own, Shutak said. He recommends immediate treatment because this case cluster is behaving differently, infecting preschool children in addition to the usual target population of school-age children.

“The fact that we’re seeing more of these suggests to me that this is a more infectious or virulent version,” he said.