Minnesota Halts COVID-19 Study After Reports of Intimidation

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Minnesota officials have stopped a COVID-19 testing study after multiple reports that state and federal public health workers were greeted by racial and ethnic slurs as they went door-to-door.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control pulled its federal surveyors out of Minnesota this week after they experienced verbal abuse and intimidation.

In Eitzen, along the Iowa border, one survey team was boxed in by two cars and threatened by three men, including one with a gun.

The news comes as Minnesota was downgraded Friday to the ``uncontrolled spread'' category by a website that tracks each state's progress toward stopping the spread of COVID-19.