What if Minnesota’s COVID-19 deaths struck the state’s smallest towns and communities first? How many Minnesota communities which would no longer exist due to COVID-19?

February 14, 2021: Minnesota’s COVID-19 Deaths

COVID-19 has killed 6,111 people in Minnesota (MDH, confirmed deaths) and 482,536 people nationwide (CDC) as of February 7, 2021. And yet the magnitude of death is hard to fathom. The population of Minnesota is 5,680,337 people. While 6,111 is a lot of dead mothers, brothers, partners, and people, comparing those individual losses to the faceless sense of mass humanity belittles the loss. Yet there is power to be gained by visualizing on a geographic scale.

Arbitrary Boundaries Are Important

The artists and architects of the Minnesota Vietnam Memorial certainly understood this. Located south of the Minnesota Capitol, the Memorial replicates the iconic wall of the national Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C. The Minnesota Vietnam Memorial adds a geographically distinct Minnesota twist. The memorial plaza is surfaced with 68,000 granite squares in the shape of the North Star state. Each square represents a Minnesotan Vietnam vet. 1,120 of the squares are dark green, one for each of the Minnesotans Killed-In-Action or Missing-In-Action. Each dark green square’s location on the plaza map of Minnesota marks the hometown of a Minnesotan who did not return.

In memorialization, where a person is from weighs more than where or how they died. 

Visualizing COVID-19

Lacking the hometowns of all 6,111 Minnesota COVID-19 deaths, what if we could geographically group and plot them onto municipalities? The Washington Post back in November visualized COVID-19 deaths on the national scale. The volume shows whole swaths of the country emptied of people. The Post did a similar visualization in September 2020 if all deaths were centered around your house. For Minnesota, giving the losses a hypothetical geographic location creates an understanding that the individuals lost shared more than a cause of death. They all lived in the Land of 10,000 Lakes.

The Map

Below is a map designating the 144 Minnesota communities which would no longer exist if the 6,111 Minnesota fatalities from COVID-19 all lived in the same cities and townships. If they all lived within the same municipal boundary, International Falls would be a ghost town. If they all lived in the same county, Grant County would revert to wilderness.

The List

And here is (hypothetically) an in memoriam listing of those communities with their former population.

February 7, 2021 (Initial Post)
Aldrich, City of	42	Alvwood Township	39
Anthony Township	50	Balsam Township (Aitkin Co.)	38
Barry, City of	13	Bassett Township	47
Battle Township	54	Beaver Township (Aitkin Co.)	43
Big Woods Township	37	Boxville Township	30
Boy River, City of	51	Brandt Township	53
Bray Township	56	Brislet Township	45
Browns Creek Township	45	Camp 5 Township	29
Campbell Township	53	Cannon Township	12
Caribou Township	43	Cedar Mills, City of	45
Champion Township	46	Clow Township	42
Cobden	30	Como Township	39
Cornish Township (Aitkin Co.)	32	Correll	30
Croke Township	60	Davis Township	25
Denham	37	Donaldson	38
Donnelly Township (Marshall Co.)	16	Doran	42
Dovray, City of	55	Eagle Point Township	11
East Park Township	26	East Valley Township	43
Espelie Township	37	Farley Township	43
Farwell	50	Florence, City of	38
Foldahl Township	60	Fork Township	8
Funkley	10	Good Hope Township (Norman Co.)	40
Gorton Township	53	Grand Plain Township	54
Grattan Township	41	Gully, City of	58
Hadley	58	Halma	55
Hammond Township	48	Hampden Township	41
Hamre Township	15	Hangaard Township	5
Hatfield	53	Hegne Township	33
Helgeland Township	56	Hill Township	22
Hillman, City of	40	Humboldt, City of	39
Ihlen	52	Johnson, City of	27
Johnson Township	49	Kenneth	59
Kinbrae	16	Lee Township (Aitkin Co.)	48
Lee Township (Beltrami Co.)	56	Leonard	40
Leonidas	48	Lewis Township	48
Libby Township	52	Lind Township	48
Linsell Township	32	Lockhart Township	50
Long Lost Lake Township	42	Louisburg	37
Manchester, City of	50	Manston Township	40
Mayfield Township	45	McCauleyville Township	59
Meadows Township	38	Minnie Township	22
Mizpah	52	Moose River township	25
Myrtle	39	Nashua	54
Nassau	56	Nereson Township	46
Ness Township	55	Nilsen Township	55
Nore Township	57	North Ottawa Township	50
O’Brien Township	59	Palmville Township	36
Park Township	30	Parker Township (Marshall Co.)	33
Parnell Township (Traverse Co.)	52	Parnell Township (Polk Co.)	54
Pelan Township	42	Percy Township	26
Pohlitz Township	27	Polonia Township	31
Pomroy Township (Itasca Co.)	45	Prairie Lake Township	47
Redpath Township	47	Regal	33
Rockwell Township	52	Russia Township	25
Sargeant, City of	56	Seavey Township	54
Sedan	50	Shotley Township	50
Sinnott Township	19	Skane Township	49
South Red River Township	22	Spring Brook Township	39
Spruce Grove Township (Beltrami Co.)	56	St. Joseph Township (Kittson Co.)	59
St. Vincent, City of	51	St. Vincent Township	48
Steenerson Township	20	Strathcona	35
Svea Township	45	Taopi	57
Tegner Township	39	Teien Township	55
Thief Lake Township	39	Third River Township	54
Thorpe Township	53	Tintah, City of	57
Tintah Township	30	Toqua Township	51
Trail	44	Urbank	52
Veldt Township	35	Verdon Township	37
Westport, City of	54	White Pine Township	32
Whiteford Township	44	Wilder	56
Winchester Township	48	Wolf Lake, City of	60
February 14, 2021
Tanberg Township	60	Walls Township	60

Data Construction

The list was constructed by taking the Minnesota Department of Health’s count of confirmed COVID-19 deaths and comparing it with the Minnesota Department of Administration State Demographic Center’s estimate of the number of people living in Minnesota’s cities and townships as of 2019, the most recent list until the 2020 U.S. Census numbers are released.

Updates

“Minnesota’s COVID-19 Deaths Visualized” was originally published on February 8, 2021.

• February 8, 2021: Deaths – 6,038; Single Municipality – Corcoran; County – Grant; 142 Communities.
• February 14, 2021: Deaths – 6,111; Single Municipality – International Falls; 144 Communities (added Walls and Tanberg).

The COVID-19 Pandemic Is Not Over

144 Minnesota communities. 6,111 Minnesotans. The COVID-19 pandemic caused Minnesota’s highest annual death count and has already taken almost six times as many lives as the war in Vietnam. Let’s remember those lost and work to prevent greater causalities.

Wear a mask. Wash your hands. Physically distance. Get vaccinated.

(Read more of The CNotebook. Visualize Wisconsin’s COVID-19 deaths. Read more on public health.)