Credit: Navy Medicine via Flickr
Thursday’s COVID update from the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) includes 1,410 new cases and 17 new deaths.
The recently reported deaths bring the state total to 6,251 during the pandemic. Of those deaths, (63.2%) 3,955 were residents in long-term care, including 9 of the 17 reported on Thursday.
As of Feb. 2, the state reported that 475,200 people received at least one dose of Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, while 128,694 people completed both doses of the vaccine that are needed for the full 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 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
As of February 3, the number of people with COVID-19 hospitalized in Minnesota was 369. Of those hospitalized, 82 were in intensive care and 287 were receiving treatment that was not in the ICU.
Statewide, 145 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 1,410 positive results in Thursday’s update were from a total of 50,330 completed tests, creating a daily test positivity rate of 2.8%.
According to Johns Hopkins University, the test positivity rate in Minnesota in the last seven days is 3.48%, making it one of the lowest rates in the country.
The World Health Organization recommends that a positive percentage rate (total positive divided by the total number of completed tests) 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: 6,679,181 (from 6,628,961)
- Tested persons: 3,288,834 (increasing from 3,276,111)
- People with at least 1 shot vaccine: 475,200 starting with February 2 (from 458,651)
- People with 2 vaccines: 128,694 starting February 2 (from 122,597)
- Positive cases: 465,176 (from 463,766)
- Deaths: 6,251 – 254 of which are “probable *” (increasing from 6,234)
- Patients who no longer need isolation: 450,383 (from 449,707)
* 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.