US Navy photo by 2nd class mass communication specialist Sara Eshleman, via Flickr
Thursday’s COVID update from the Minnesota Department of Health includes 43 new deaths and more than 1,500 new cases.
The recently reported deaths bring the state’s total to 5,817 during the pandemic, of which 64% (3,716) were residents of long-term care, including 23 of the 43 reported on Thursday.
On Saturday night, Minnesota confirmed the first five cases of the mutant variant of COVID-19 in the UK, with residents from four Gemini counties testing positive for B.1.1.7. variant after falling ill between December 16-31.
No other cases of the new strain have been confirmed, but health officials believe the variant is generally circulating in Minnesota.
Meanwhile, the state reported on Thursday that 153,332 people received at least one dose of Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, while 15,082 people completed both doses of vaccine that are needed for the full effect of the vaccines. The Department of Health has launched a public dashboard to track the distribution of vaccines in Minnesota and you can view it here.
hospitalization
As of January 13, the number of people with COVID-19 hospitalized in Minnesota was 645, which is the lowest number of COVID admissions reported since October 26 (614).
Of those hospitalized, 131 (up from 129 the day before) were in intensive care, and 514 (down from 536) received non-ICU treatment.
Statewide, 140 ICU beds were available. 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 1,598 positive results in Thursday’s update were from a total of 36,678 completed tests, creating a daily test positivity rate of 4.35%.
According to Johns Hopkins University, the Minnesota test positivity rate over the past seven days is 5.94%, which is trending backwards after falling below 5% just over a week ago.
The World Health Organization recommends that a positive percentage rate (total of positives divided by total tests completed) of less than 5% for at least two weeks be required for the safe reopening of the economy. That 5% threshold is based on the total positives divided by the total tests.
Coronavirus in Minnesota by numbers
- Total tests: 6,043,802 (of the 6,006,711)
- Tested persons: 3,112,884 (out of 3,104,508)
- Positive cases: 441,935 (of the 440,354)
- Deaths: 5,817 – 211 of which are “probable *” (increasing from 5,774)
- Patients who no longer need isolation: 420,919 (out of 419,139)
* 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.