COVID-19 Information

Most people will experience mild to moderate respiratory illness and recover without requiring special treatment, however, some people will become seriously ill and require medical attention. Older people and those with chronic conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease, or cancer are more likely to develop serious illnesses. Anyone can get sick with COVID-19 and become seriously ill or die at any age.

Symptoms

According to the Centers for Disease Control, common symptoms of the coronavirus are:

• Cough (usually a dry cough)
• Shortness of breath or trouble breathing
• Fever
• Chills
• Repeated shaking with chills
• Muscle pain
• Headache
• Sore throat
• New loss of taste or smell
• Nasal congestion
• Runny nose
• Suspicious rash (COVID toes)

What's the difference between flu and COVID-19?

There are some key differences between flu and COVID-19. COVID-19 spreads more easily than the flu and causes more serious illnesses in some people. It can also take longer before people show symptoms and remain contagious for longer. Another important difference is that there is a vaccine to protect against flu, while there is currently no vaccine to prevent COVID-19.

Learn more on the CDC website “Similarities and Differences between Flu and COVID-19​.”

If you have any COVID-19 symptoms, you should get tested right away and self-isolate until you receive your results. 

If you have any symptoms, get tested for COVID-19.

If you have been in close contact with someone with COVID-19, you should get tested if you start to develop any symptoms.  You might consider testing 5 days after your close contact to be sure you did not have a COVID-19 infection with symptoms.  In general, being in close contact means you have spent 15 minutes or more within about 6 feet of a person who has COVID-19 throughout a 24-hour period.

If you need to be seen, please call our COVID-19 Patient Care Line at 612-873-2922. You can also request an e-visit by logging into your MyChart account.  If you do not have a MyChart account, you can sign up for one here, or call 612-873-5600.

If you are experiencing trouble breathing, please call our Nurse Telehealth line at 612-873-6963. If this is a life-threatening emergency, please call 911.

Testing options and locations

Testing is available to anyone with or without symptoms.

• Our clinics can test you for COVID-19. Call 612-873-6963 to make an appointment.
• Please do not go to the Emergency Department for your COVID-19 test. It is easier and much faster to get tested at designated testing locations and clinics across Hennepin County. Visit MN Department of Health testing locations to find a location option that works best for you.

Submitting your outside testing results allows your provider and Hennepin Healthcare to provide the best care possible, using the most up-to-date information. There are 3 ways to do this, with MyChart being the preferred method.

Instructions for submitting test results for COVID-19 (PDF)

Updating Communication Preferences in MyChart (PDF)

Via MyChart

1. Under Messaging or Quick Links, select Ask a Question
2. Select New Medical Question
3. Using the dropdowns, select the provider and the reason for sending (Outside Lab Result)
4. Add a comment that these COVID results are from an outside lab
5. Click the ATTACH AN IMAGE button to attach your entire lab report (not a screenshot of an email you received).

NOTE: This may require logging into your account with the outside lab and downloading the full report.

1. Enter a short description of your result and click SEND.

Via Email

Send a copy of your results as a PDF attachment to HIMOperations@hcmed.org.

Via Provider Visit

Share your results with your provider at an in-person or virtual visit.

The COVID-19 vaccine is approved for everyone ages 6 months and older. Getting vaccinated is the best way to protect yourself and your loved ones. The latest COVID-19 vaccine is available at all of our primary care clinics. Schedule your appointment today.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Recommendations from the Minnesota Department of Health:

• Children 6 months to 4 years of age may need multiple doses of COVID-19 vaccine to be up to date, including at least one dose of the updated 2024-2025 COVID-19 vaccine. The number of recommended doses depends on COVID-19 vaccines previously received, their age, and whether the person has a weakened immune system.
• People 5 to 11 years of age should get one updated Pfizer or Moderna vaccine regardless of whether they’ve received any previous COVID-19 vaccine dose(s) to be up to date.
• People 12 years and older who have not previously received any COVID-19 vaccine dose(s) and choose to get Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, should get one dose to be up to date.
• People 12 years and older who have not previously received any COVID-19 vaccine and choose to get the Novavax vaccine should get two updated Novavax doses to be up to date.
• People 12 years and older who have received any previous COVID-19 vaccine(s) and choose to get Novavax should get one updated Novavax dose to be up to date.
• Some people may get additional doses of updated 2024-2025 COVID-19 vaccines:
  • People who are moderately or severely immunocompromised may get one additional dose of the updated 2024-2025 COVID-19 vaccine two or more months after the last COVID-19 vaccine. They also may receive additional updated 2024-2025 COVID-19 vaccine doses and should talk to their healthcare provider.

Call 612-873-6963 to make an appointment or schedule with MyChart.

About COVID-19 Vaccines

The COVID-19 vaccines currently being offered in the United States are the Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and Novavax vaccines. Hennepin Healthcare is currently administering only the Pfizer vaccines.

Learn more about vaccines from the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):

Minnesota Department of Health (MDH)
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Ensuring the Safety of COVID-19 Vaccines, (CDC)
Understanding mRNA Vaccines, (CDC)
Vaccine Pilot Sites, (MDH)
Vaccine Plan, (MDH)

Treatment for COVID-19

The best treatment for mild to moderate cases is isolation, plenty of rest and stay hydrated. Some over-the-counter medicines may help with some symptoms such as fever and cough. If your symptoms worsen, please call our COVID-19 Patient Care Line at 612-873-2922.

There are treatments now available in hospital settings for more severe cases.

Please check these websites for the latest information:

Minnesota Department of Health
Centers for Disease Control
COVID-19 Vaccine Information, (MDH)

Two therapies are antiviral pills that could help people who are at high risk of serious illness and hospitalization once they have been diagnosed with COVID-19.

While the COVID-19 vaccine with boosters is still the best protection against the virus, new prevention and treatment options are especially helpful for people with certain pre-existing conditions. Read on to learn more about how the new therapies work, who qualifies, and how to access them through Hennepin Healthcare.

Paxlovid

What is it?

Paxlovid is an antiviral medicine from Pfizer. It was approved on May 25, 2023, to help treat COVID-19 in adults at high risk of severe illness from the virus. It is approved for emergency use in children 12 - 17 years of age who weigh at least 88 pounds. It has been approved to treat mild to moderate COVID-19 cases and is meant for use before hospitalization.

Clinical trials show Paxlovid may reduce the risk of hospitalization from COVID-19. Like Molnupiravir, Paxlovid treatment must be started within five days of showing symptoms.

Paxlovid is a protease inhibitor. It stops the COVID-19 virus from replicating inside a person’s body by blocking protease, an enzyme that the virus needs to multiply. Protease inhibitors have long been used to treat other viruses, including HIV and hepatitis C. It does interact with other drugs you might be taking so your provider will need to weigh the benefits vs. harm due to drug interactions.

How do I get it?

If you are diagnosed with COVID-19, you have had symptoms for 5 days or less, and you are interested in this treatment, please schedule a virtual visit in primary care, reach out to your PCP/clinic team, or call our COVID-19 Patient Care Line, 612-873-2922 (8:00 am - 4:30 pm, M-F), to see if you are eligible and if medication is available.

Molnupiravir

What is it?

Molnupiravir is an oral pill from Merck. It dramatically changes the virus’s genetic code, causing it to mutate so much that it can’t replicate.

Patients take four pills every 12 hours for five days. They must start the treatment within five days of showing symptoms.

Molnupiravir is approved, under emergency use, to treat mild-to-moderate cases of COVID-19 in adults who are at high risk for severe illness but have not yet been hospitalized. It’s only approved in cases where alternative COVID-19 treatments approved by the FDA aren’t appropriate, as it has lower efficacy.

Molnupiravir is only approved for adults 18 and older. It’s not recommended for people who are pregnant.

How do I get it?

Molnupiravir received emergency use authorization on December 23, 2021, and it is currently available.

If you are diagnosed with COVID-19, you have had symptoms for 5 days or less, and you are interested in this treatment, please schedule a virtual visit in primary care, reach out to your PCP/clinic team, or call our COVID-19 Patient Care Line, 612-873-2922 (8:00a - 4:30p, M-F), to see if you are eligible.

Please continue to get vaccinated or get booster shots when eligible, wear a high-quality mask, and practice all necessary COVID-19 precautions.

If you are pregnant and have concerns related to COVID-19, visit one of our pregnancy and prenatal-specific FAQs:

Prenatal Care Frequently Asked Questions

Throughout the pandemic, we have been guided by a multidisciplinary group of thoughtful providers and other stakeholders at Hennepin Healthcare who consider ethical issues related to COVID-19, including our obligation to lead in addressing health equity by getting COVID-19 vaccine to the communities we serve. The limited and unpredictable initial supply of vaccines presented challenges as we faced high demand, systemic barriers, and an urgent need to “get shots in arms,” but we maintained a fierce commitment to move forward in a focused and equitable way.

To stand up the infrastructure quickly, and meet state goals for getting vaccines to patients, we started by using MyChart for the first wave as the most efficient and effective way to communicate to a large population of patients. Recognizing that MyChart likely disadvantaged certain target populations, we redoubled our efforts to engage with vulnerable populations by greatly expanding our list of tactics to reach out to patients who would be missed by traditional methods. 

Reaching out to the community for vaccination access

Our initial outreach targeted 15 Target zip codes in our catchment area defined by the Community Needs Index (CNI), which is a model that looks at 15 factors across five domains (income, culture—race/ethnicity/language, education, insurance, and housing). We identified the top 10 zip codes with the highest rate of COVID-19-positive patients. Of these ten zip codes, six overlap with the CNI Target Zip Codes.

We reached out first to our patients from these areas by MyChart to give them access to scheduling the quickest but recognized that these groups require more robust interventions since traditional technology-based solutions are not as effective. We put in place additional outreach activities with the following criteria as a guide: Unstable housing, using the Housing stability index score in EPIC; Limited English Proficiency (LEP) – self-identified in EPIC as “preferred language.”  Target languages including Spanish and Somali, which represent 83% of all LEP patients; the clinical risk score—using our Hierarchical Condition Category (HCC) score and tiering, target groups in our high and extreme risk tiers.

Communication outreach activities have included:

• Emails and text messages in English, Spanish, and  Somali
• Live and automated phone calls in English, Spanish, and Somali with the opportunity to connect to an operator to schedule an appointment or ask questions
• Social media
• Personal calls from providers to patient panels
• Personal calls from Somali- and Spanish-speaking providers and care team members
• Personal calls from interpreters to Somali and Spanish
• Personal calls from our Connection Center and/or Telehealth staff
• Personal USPS letter in various languages

Vaccination clinics in the community 

To fulfill our shared commitment to vaccine equity, we also are collaborating with the state, county, and community partners to offer onsite vaccination clinics that meet our communities where they are. If you are interested in hosting or referring an organization for a community clinic, email healthequity@hcmed.org

Recent examples include:

• partnering with multiple churches and community centers serving local residents
• partnering with Hennepin County Community Health and Minneapolis Public Health to vaccinate residents and staff of assisted living facilities, educators, unaffiliated healthcare workers, emergency responders
• partnering with Hennepin County Community Health to vaccinate persons who are currently incarcerated
• partnering with Healthcare for the Homeless and MDH to vaccinate persons living in shelters
• partnering with Minneapolis Public Housing to vaccinate public housing residents
• partnering with St Anthony Village School System, UCare, and Healthfair 11 to independently stand up a community site to vaccinate unaffiliated healthcare workers and educators

We continue to develop new partnerships with community groups such as churches, community centers, and grassroots organizations to establish vaccine locations within the targeted areas.

As we identify barriers, including vaccine hesitancy in cultural communities, our providers are reaching out through trusted media channels to increase confidence in the safety and efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccine.