Credit: New Jersey National Guard via Flickr
Sunday’s COVID update from the Minnesota Department of Health includes 32 new deaths and 1,181 new cases.
The recently reported deaths bring the state’s total to 6,095 during the pandemic. Of those deaths, 63.5% (3,875) were long-term care residents, including 22 of the 32 reported on Sunday.
Meanwhile, as of January 21, the state reported that 247,415 people had received at least one dose of Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, while 63,185 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.
B.1.1.7. A variant of the coronavirus that was first discovered in the United Kingdom was found in Minnesota, with health officials confirming five cases of the variant in the Twin Cities subway area so far, but none have been reported since early January. .
hospitalization
Hospitalization data are not updated at the weekend.
As of January 21, the number of people with COVID-19 hospitalized in Minnesota was 543. Of those hospitalized, 104 were in intensive care and 439 were receiving non-ICU treatment.
Statewide, 163 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 1,181 positive results from Sunday’s update come from a total of 34,874 completed tests, creating a daily test positivity rate of 3.38%.
According to Johns Hopkins University, the test rate in Minnesota in the last seven days is 4.66%, 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. That 5% threshold is based on the total positives divided by the total tests.
Coronavirus in Minnesota by numbers
- Total tests: 6,367,721 (increasing from 6,332,647)
- Tested persons: 3,206,509 (of 3,193,783)
- Positive cases: 454,989 (from 453,808)
- Deaths: 6,095 – 231 of which are “probable *” (up from 6,063)
- Patients who no longer need isolation: 437,827 (from 436,544)
* 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.