Just three weeks ago, the Minnesota Department of Health reported the state’s first case of coronavirus. Now, Minnesota’s numbers are up to 398 cases and four deaths. The United States now has the highest number of cases of any country in the world.

At the center of Minnesota’s response to the health crisis is MDH Commissioner Jan Malcolm. She answered questions from Politics Friday host Mike Mulcahy and our listeners about what we might expect from the rapidly changing situation.

Just three weeks ago, the Minnesota Department of Health reported the state’s first case of the coronavirus. Now, Minnesota’s numbers are up to 398 cases and four deaths. And the United States has the highest number of cases of any country in the world.

At the center of Minnesota’s response to the health crisis is MDH Commissioner Jan Malcolm, who has been a regular at Gov. Tim Walz’s daily updates on the state of Minnesota’s health this week.

While Malcolm said she’s hopeful that social distancing will help in the long term, it hasn’t been able to “bend the curve” fast enough. A lot more cases of the virus are coming, and hospitals are working to make room.

Malcolm answered questions from Politics Friday host Mike Mulcahy and MPR News listeners about what we might expect from the rapidly changing situation. Here’s an excerpt from that conversation. The excerpts have been lightly edited for clarity.

You talked this week at a news conference about how we’re no longer bending the curve. Are you expecting a big surge of patients in hospitals? How will this play out, and for how long?

That's certainly what has been confirmed as these U.S. totals go up.

And what we're seeing here in Minnesota … [is] that because of the national lack of a comprehensive testing ability since January, we are a little hampered in knowing exactly how much disease is out there.

We've said all along [that] we know that for all the positive test cases that we can confirm with laboratory tests, we know there's more out there.

We've known for some days now that we have community spread and that we really need to be acting under the assumption that that this is widespread in all of our communities, whether or not you're in a county that has laboratory confirmed cases or not. We need to be acting as though we all are at low risk for exposure, because it's spreading in the community.

Minnesota’s COVID-19 stay-at-home order What you need to know

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Businesses are closing and laying off workers, resulting in more than 3 million people filing for unemployment last week.

The nation’s low-wage workforce has been hit the hardest.

Already living paycheck to paycheck, many workers are now unemployed or working fewer hours.

Guests:

Tom Streitz is the president and CEO of Twin Cities Rise, a workforce nonprofit based in north Minneapolis.

Pronita Gupta is the director of job quality at the Center for Law and Social Policy, which advocates for policies that benefit low-income people.

Jon Collins is a senior reporter on MPR News' Race, Class and Communities desk where he also covers labor issues.

Ignacia Ambriz works at Sam’s Club. She has been a member of Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en Lucha for 11 years.

By order of Gov. Tim Walz, K-12 schools in Minnesota have been closed for a week to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus. When school starts up again, education will take place via distance learning.

Teachers and administrators have been busy figuring out how that will work. What's the best way to connect with students online? What about students who don't have access to smartphones, tablets or broadband internet? How will the needs of special education students be met? Angela was joined by two teachers and a principal who have been trying to come up with answers to these questions and more.

Scared? Worried? Anxious? These are normal feelings during this terrifying moment. But now is not the time to neglect your mental health. Here’s how you can stay resilient during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This conversation is part of “Call To Mind” — MPR’s initiative to foster new conversations about mental health. Learn more at calltomind.org

Guests:

Jen Atherton is a licensed professional clinical counselor at a Maple Grove private practice

Sarah Jerstad is a psychologist at Children’s Minnesota and also the associate clinical director for the hospital’s psychological services.

Alisa Roth is MPR News’ mental health correspondent.

Some resources:

National Alliance on Mental Illness on mental health coping strategies in the time of COVID-19.

Anxiety and Depression Association of America on managing coronavirus anxiety.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on managing stress and anxiety.

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration on tips for social distancing, quarantine, and isolation during an infectious disease outbreak.

Are you a contract worker who lost work because of the global COVID-19 pandemic? Or a restaurant worker whose hours have been cut, or have vanished all together? Maybe you’ve been wondering if you should take money out of your retirement fund to get through these uncertain financial times.

MPR’s senior economics contributor Chris Farrell joins Angela to talk about what’s going on with the Minnesota and U.S. economy because of the pandemic, and takes calls from listeners trying to figure out a path forward.

Like many of us, Dr. Joel Boyd’s routine came to a sudden halt in recent weeks.

As an orthopedic surgeon at TRIA, he can no longer operate, and he is mostly checking with patients by phone.

He also had to stop traveling and treating Minnesota Wild hockey players when the NHL put the current season on hold.

Boyd joined Angela as part of an occasional series of profile interviews of Minnesotans whose names you may not have heard, but whose accomplishments inspire admiration.

Guest:

Dr. Joel Boyd is a TRIA orthopedic surgeon, head physician for the Minnesota Wild, and the team physician for the University of Minnesota Golden Gopher football team.

How are the U.S. House and Senate working together to provide relief to worried and financially vulnerable Americans? Sen. Tina Smith talked about how things are going on Capitol Hill, and what we might expect in the way of COVID-19 response in the coming weeks.

Later in the hour, Minnesota Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka and House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler talk about emergency legislation lawmakers are passing to help fight the pandemic.

Anonymously sending flowers to a nursing home on lockdown. Leaving kind notes on neighbors’ front steps. Sending the cost of a haircut to your hairdresser. Minnesotans are stepping up to help each other during a time of emotional and economic uncertainty.

Want to start your own volunteer project in your pandemic downtime? Two executives in the volunteerism world share their advice on how to make a big difference without doing a lot.

To find volunteer opportunities, check out the COVID-19 volunteer response hub on the HandsOn Twin Cities website.

Guests:

Tracy Nielsen, executive director of HandsOn Twin Cities

Karmit Bulman, executive director of the Minnesota Association for Volunteer Administration

With the closure of K-12 schools across the state because of the COVID-19 pandemic, many parents have suddenly found themselves in charge of their children’s education. Schools are making plans for distance learning that will be implemented at the end of the month. Until then, it’s up to parents to provide instruction for their children. And many of those parents are also trying to work from home at the same time. We share some advice for approaching this challenging situation.

Guest:

Annie Mason, program director of elementary teacher education at the University of Minnesota