Credit: April Ellers, Minneapolis VA Health Care System
Saturday’s COVID update from the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) includes 1,072 new cases and 19 new deaths.
The recently reported deaths bring the state total to 6,187 during the pandemic. Of those deaths, 63.4% (3,922) were long-term care residents, including 11 of the 19 reported on Saturday.
As of January 28, the state reported that 381,204 people had received at least one dose of Pfizer or Moderna vaccine – an increase of more than 35,000 the day before – while 105,361 people had completed both doses of vaccine that are needed for vaccines. . „Full effect – an increase of 8,519.
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 the first known case of the Brazil P.1 variant in the United States. This case involves a Minnesota who recently traveled to Brazil. There are 8 confirmed cases of variant B.1.1.7. Both new strains are thought to be more transmissible.
Hospitalizations
Hospitalization data are not updated at the weekend.
Until January 28th. The number of people with COVID-19 hospitalized in Minnesota was 450. Of those hospitalized, 95 were in intensive care and 355 were receiving non-ICU treatment.
Statewide, 166 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 1,072 positive results from Saturday’s update come from a total of 32,732 completed tests, creating a daily test positivity rate of 3.27%.
According to Johns Hopkins University, the test positivity rate in Minnesota in the last seven days is 3.81%, 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 required for the safe reopening of the economy. This 5% threshold is based on the total positives divided by the total tests.
Coronavirus in Minnesota by numbers
- Total tests: 6,545,968 (from 6,513,797)
- Tested persons: 3,253,030 (of the 3,244,005)
- People with at least 1 shot vaccine: 381,204 starting with January 28 (from 345,636)
- Positive cases: 460,819 (of the 459,747)
- Deaths: 6,187 – 247 of which are “probable *” (increasing from 6,168)
- Patients who no longer need isolation: 444,782 (of the 443,253)
* 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.