Minnesota announced seven new COVID-19 patients Saturday, bringing the state total to 21, as Gov. Tim Walz expressed concern over the state’s shortage of tests needed to identify coronavirus infections.

“We have been forced to ration the number of tests performed at our public health lab,” Walz wrote to Vice President Mike Pence. “I call upon you to help ensure we appropriately prevent and mitigate the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Additionally on Saturday, one Anoka County school district announced it would close for two days, while Walz scheduled a Sunday morning announcement of a plan on how schools statewide will respond to the virus.

Minnesota’s 21 cases are in nine counties. Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Hennepin, Olmsted, Ramsey, Renville, Stearns and Wright counties all have cases, according to state test results.

All but one of the patients are recovering at home under voluntary quarantine. An Anoka County patient remains hospitalized in critical condition.

Pence is leading the federal response to the coronavirus pandemic. There is mounting criticism of the federal government’s inability to provide enough tests to help slow the spread of infections.

Walz says Minnesota would like to test 15,000 samples per month, but the state doesn’t have the test kits or the other chemicals required to do it.

“We need to move the testing for coronavirus out of our laboratories and into our clinics,” the letter says, noting that doing so would require a reliable supply chain for test kits and the other products needed to process the samples.

Kris Ehresmann, director of infectious disease prevention for the Minnesota Department of Health, agreed that a shortage of tests is hampering the response to COVID-19 here and around the world.

“The demand for testing globally is stressing the system,” said Ehresmann, who acknowledged not everyone who wants a coronavirus test can get one. “That remains an issue. We are working on means so that we can have more accessibility.”

One of Minnesota’s newest cases is a Dakota County teenager. Ehresmann didn’t release the patient’s exact age but said there was not a concern about school transmission.

Walz has faced some criticism for not ordering schools to close. State health experts have said children are not at high risk of contracting or spreading COVID-19.

But data on the young virus isn’t fully clear, and on Friday the CDC issued fresh guidance suggesting that school closings of at least eight weeks might be needed to contain the virus.

Governors across the nation had already begun announcing the closure of schools. As of Saturday afternoon, some 57,000 schools were closed nationwide, affecting at least 25.8 million students, according to a running tally by Education Week.

On Friday, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers joined the wave, announcing a statewide school closure beginning Wednesday.

“From a purely epidemiological standpoint, closing schools for COVID-19 is not considered an effective strategy for community mitigation,” said Daniel Huff, assistant commissioner with the state Department of Health.

Huff noted that Walz, who declared a peacetime state of emergency Friday, is a former educator. So is Evers.

The contrast between the two states is striking, and some have questioned Minnesota’s choice. More than 2,000 people had signed an online petition as of Saturday night calling on Walz to close Minnesota’s schools.

In Nevada, the teachers union in the county that includes Las Vegas sent a letter to the superintendent Saturday saying his decision not to close schools was putting lives at risk.

And an Anoka County school district announced Saturday they will be closed Monday and Tuesday. At Centennial Schools, Superintendent Brian Dietz wrote Saturday they “have had no exposure in our buildings.”

But as they return from spring break, Dietz said the school district needs time for staff to “prepare and enhance our distance learning/e-learning lessons in case we move or are recommended to move in that direction by state agencies.” They also want to “assess how the Centers for Disease Control travel guidelines impact staff, students and families after spring break travel,” the superintendent continued.

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Virus rates suggest six MN counties should close K-12 schools, weekly health report says Area colleges and universities have decided to extend spring break and move courses online for the foreseeable future.

A University of Minnesota student at the Twin Cities campus was one of five new infections reported on Friday. University officials said the student was isolated off campus and being monitored.

Besides the Dakota County teenager, the new cases announced Saturday were all people in their 30s or 60s. All either were in contact with someone known to have an infection or traveled to a place where infections were widespread.

Saturday’s results are only from the state laboratory, which has screened more than 868 samples since the outbreak began. Commercial testing at health care providers is starting to become available, and the state will include those results in its daily updates on the spread of the coronavirus.

The coronavirus continues to spread. There are more than 2,600 cases nationally and 58 deaths, according to the New York Times, which is using data from the Center from Disease Control and Prevention and reports from public health departments to tally the spread of infections.

Several states, including California, New York and Washington, are seeing community transmission of the coronavirus, which happens when a patient who has not been exposed to anyone known to be infected and hasn’t traveled to countries in which the virus is circulating tests positive for infection. That’s not evident in Minnesota yet, but health officials say it is likely only a matter of time.

As of Friday, Minnesota’s cases were all related to direct contact or travel in some way.

Minnesota health officials say the best way to prevent catching and spreading the virus is to wash your hands thoroughly and often, cover coughs and sneezes, don’t touch your face and stay home if you are sick. State leaders hope “social distancing” and other community mitigation efforts — like limiting large gatherings and asking workers to telecommute when possible — will slow the spread of the virus so it will not overwhelm the health care system.

Mara Gottfried and Dave Orrick contributed to this report.