Credit: US Navy photo by Class I mass media specialist Kyle Steckler, via Flickr
Friday’s COVID update from the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) includes 1,048 new cases and a total of 19 deaths.
The recently reported deaths bring the state total to 6,362 during the pandemic. Of those deaths, 63% (4,011) were residents of long-term care, including 15 of 19 reported on Friday.
As of Feb. 10, the state reported that 617,896 people received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, while 189,902 people 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. Both new strains are thought to be more transmissible.
hospitalization
As of Feb. 11, the number of people with COVID-19 hospitalized in Minnesota was 326 – a slight increase from 320 the day before. Of those hospitalized, 73 were in intensive care (down from 78), and 253 received non-ICU treatment (up from 242).
Statewide, 161 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 1,048 positive results in Friday’s update come from a total of 43,554 completed tests, creating a daily test positivity rate of 2.4%.
According to Johns Hopkins University, the test positivity rate in Minnesota in the last seven days is 3.29%, 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) of less than 5% for at least two weeks be needed to safely reopen the economy.
Coronavirus in Minnesota by numbers
- Total tests: 6,914,135 (from 6,871,077)
- Tested persons: 3,348,043 (from 3,337,790)
- People with at least 1 shot vaccine: 617,896 (out of 599,218)
- People with 2 vaccines: 189,902 (of the 177,239)
- Positive cases: 471,851 (from 470,803)
- Deaths: 6,362 – 265 of which are “probable *” (increasing from 6,343)
- Patients who no longer need isolation: 457,359 (from 456,849)
* 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.