Credit: Phil Roeder via Flickr
Tuesday’s COVID update from the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) includes 586 new cases and six new deaths.
The recently reported deaths bring the state total to 6,308 during the pandemic. Of those deaths, 63 percent (3,977) were long-term care residents, including five of the six reported Tuesday.
As of Feb. 7, the state reported that 569,164 people had received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, while 162,132 people had completed both doses of the vaccine that are needed for the maximum effect of the vaccines.
MDH has a public dashboard to track the progress of the vaccine in Minnesota and you can view it here.
Two new variants of coronavirus have been confirmed in Minnesota, including what was the first known case of the Brazil P.1 variant in the United States. This case involves a Minnesota man who traveled to Brazil. There are 8 confirmed cases of variant B.1.1.7. It is believed that both new strains are more transmissible.
Hospitalizations
As of February 8, the number of people with COVID-19 hospitalized in Minnesota was 321. Of those hospitalized, 74 were in intensive care and 247 were receiving treatment that was not in the ICU.
Statewide, 177 beds were available for the ICU. During the November increase, the state had less than 100 intensive care beds available. The number of beds available depends on the number of staff available, so the total is constantly changing.
Test rates and positivity
The 564 positive results from Tuesday’s update come from a total of 10,623 completed tests, creating a daily test positivity rate of 5.31%.
According to Johns Hopkins University, the test positivity rate in Minnesota in the last seven days is 3.47%, making it one of the lowest rates in the country.
The World Health Organization recommends that a positive percentage rate (total of positives divided by total tests completed) below 5% for at least two weeks be needed to safely reopen the economy.
Coronavirus in Minnesota by numbers
- Total tests: 6,808,634 (from 6,798,547)
- Tested persons: 3,322,594 (from 3,321,315)
- People with at least 1 shot vaccine: 569,164 (out of 556,482)
- People with 2 vaccines: 162,132 (out of 158,763)
- Positive cases: 469,254 (from 468,682)
- Deaths: 6,308 – 262 of which are “probable *” (increasing from 6,302)
- Patients who no longer need isolation: 455,280 (from 454,290)
* Probable deaths are patients who died after a positive test using the COVID-19 antigen test, which is thought to be less accurate than the more common PCR test.