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Friday’s COVID update from the Minnesota Department of Health includes 33 new deaths and more than 1,600 new cases.
The new reported deaths bring the state’s total to 5,850 during the pandemic, of which 63.8% (3,734) were long-term care residents, including 18 of the 33 reported on Friday.
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 as of Jan. 12, 162,040 people had received at least one dose of Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, while 24,745 people had completed both doses of the 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 14, the number of people with COVID-19 hospitalized in Minnesota was 612, which is the lowest number of COVID admissions reported since October 25 (584).
Of those hospitalized, 125 (up from 131 the day before) were in intensive care, and 487 (down from 514) received non-ICU treatment.
Statewide, 148 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 1,640 positive results from Friday’s update come from a total of 46,861 completed tests, creating a daily test positivity rate of 3.5%.
According to Johns Hopkins University, the test positivity rate in Minnesota over the past seven days is 5.79%.
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: 6,090,114 (out of 6,043,802)
- Tested persons: 3,124,903 (of 3,112,884)
- Positive cases: 443,562 (of the 441,935)
- Deaths: 5,850 – 213 of which are “probable *” (increasing from 5,817)
- Patients who no longer need isolation: 422,289 (out of 420,919)
* 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.