Burgum praises patchwork of local mask mandates as North Dakota reaches doorstep of 500 deaths - INFORUM

Burgum elevated eight more North Dakota counties to the state's "high risk" level on Thursday, including counties encompassing the Grand Forks, Devils Lake and Minot communities.

The new masking policies come as North Dakota reported a daily record for new COVID-19 positives on Thursday, Oct.

29, bringing the state to another pandemic high for active cases.

And with 11 deaths reported Thursday, the state reached the doorstep of 500 virus deaths.

With 1,222 new positive cases reported on Thursday, the state hit a new active case record of 6,771.

One-hundred sixty-five new COVID positives were disclosed in Ward in the state's latest report, bringing the county's active total to 835 and making it the third-largest hot spot in the state, behind the more densely populated Burleigh and Cass counties.

In addition to the deaths in Ward County, the state reported single deaths in Cass, Dickey, Emmons, Logan, Stutsman, McLean, Oliver and Ransom counties on Thursday, bringing the state's reported death total up to 499.

Cass reported 278 new cases on Thursday and currently has the largest outbreak in the state, at 1,220 active cases.

Burleigh reported 169 new cases on Thursday and has an active case total of 1,128.

The county reported 97 new cases on Thursday, bringing its active case total of 704.