Looking Back: 2020 Year in Review, part 3

July 2020: The same day that the United States reports 3 million COVID-19 infections, the nation begins its withdrawal from WHO, citing its response to the global pandemic. The next several years could bear witness to thousands of additional deaths from cancer that could have been prevented through routine diagnostic care that was delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Win-E-Mac Schools announce new website www.wemschools.org.

Lifetime McIntosh resident Lloyd Schleicher turned 100 years old in July of 2020.

McIntosh Senior Living and Poplar Meadows schedule family visits for residents at the facilities.

Win-E-Mac conducts a survey where a majority of respondents felt comfortable sending their students back to school in the fall of 2020.

The Polk County Sheriff's Office announced it's newest team member, Buffy, a German Shepard whose handler is Deputy Kyle Olson.

The Win-E-Mac Junior and Senior classes were able to have an After Prom Party in an outside location for a fun night.

Tim and Kay Rolf  and their kids, Ashley, Derek and Brittany of rural McIntosh were honored and recognized as a 2020 University of Minnesota Farm Family. 

August 2020: Despite still waiting on final data, the Trump administration reportedly agrees to pay $1.5 billion to Moderna for 100 million doses of its vaccine candidate, mRNA-1273, or an average per-dose price of $15. The vaccine, however, is still under investigation in the joint phase 3 COVID trial Moderna is conducting with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority The federal agency issues an EUA for SalivaDirect, a test developed by researchers at the Yale School of Public Health that is less invasive compared with the current standard nasal swabs. With shorter wait times not affecting test sensitivity, labs can reportedly run 90 test samples, which are collected in sterile containers, in under 3 hours. The test is also inexpensive and produces results similar to nasal swabbing. A 25-year-old man from Nevada became reinfected with COVID-19 in late May after recovering from a mild case in April, reports say. It marks the first reported case of reinfection in the United States.

McIntosh Senior Living completed a facility wide COVID testing for staff and 

residents.  

The Minnesota Department of Agriculture reports that citizens were getting unsolicited seed packages in the mail.

Win-E-Mac School decides to use a hybrid learning schedule for their high school students starting in the fall.

McIntosh held its annual Tractor Day with an Antique Tractor Parade down Main Street, a kiddie pull, sponsored by the Polar Beach Snowmobile Club, in front of the Fire Hall and a Tractor Pull on the old football field the last Saturday in August.

September 2020: A plan devised by HHS and the DOD aims to make a COVID-19 vaccine free for all Americans, with the vaccine being rolled out in January 2021. The CDC removes guidance from its website that had been posted 3 days earlier saying that the transmission of COVID-19 is airborne. A study conducted at Houston Methodist Hospital finds a more contagious strain of COVID-19 in a large portion of recent patient samples. Investigators analyzed samples from the earliest phase of the pandemic and a more recent infection wave, finding that nearly all strains from the more recent phase had a mutation that allows the virus to bind and infect more cells.

Win-E-Mac hosts a Back - To - School night the first Wednesday of September. The Open House was a modified version of the traditional event, though parents and staff were able to get supplies and information for the 2020 - 2021 school year.

There was a fast moving storm that moved through the northern side of the McIntosh area with high winds which created a mess at homesteads and Asphault Cemetery in Hill River Township. Community members with loved ones at the Cemetery spent the following weekend cleaning up the debris and repairing damage.

McIntosh Harvest Festival was held in downtown McIntosh with vendors practicing social distancing. There were many visitors to town to shop and enjoy the beautiful, autumn Saturday afternoon. There was a pumpkin decorating contest and a bake-off. Winners of the pumpkin decorating contest were Autumn Plante, Iris Howard and William Howard.

Ultima Bank Minnesota Winger Branch and the Winger Lions Club spent a day cleaning up the ditches around Winger.

President Trump visited Northwest Minnesota arriving in Bemidji. It was the first time a sitting President visited the community.