Credit: National Guard via Flickr
Wednesday’s COVID update from the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) includes 783 new cases and 10 deaths.
The recently reported deaths bring the state total to 6,390 during the pandemic. Of those deaths, 62.8% (4,019) were long-term care residents, including three out of 10 reported Wednesday.
As of Feb. 14, the state reported that 695,629 people received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, while 246,431 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. It is believed that both new strains are more transmissible.
hospitalization
As of February 16, the number of people with COVID-19 hospitalized in Minnesota was 314 – the lowest since September 24. Of those hospitalized, 54 were in intensive care and 260 received treatment that was not treated with intensive care.
Statewide, 179 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 783 positive results in Wednesday’s update come from a total of 22,160 completed tests, creating a daily test positivity rate of 3.53%.
According to Johns Hopkins University, the test positivity rate in Minnesota over the past seven days is 3.17%. It is about the same rate that Minnesota had in September, before an increase in cases increased to over 15% in November.
Credit: Johns Hopkins University
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: 7,021,209 (from 6,999,322)
- Tested persons: 3,378,669 (from 3,373,632)
- People with at least 1 shot vaccine: 695,629 (of the 686,210)
- People with 2 vaccines: 246,431 (of the 240,027)
- Positive cases: 475,379 (from 474,621)
- Deaths: 6,390 – 266 of which are “probable *” (increasing from 6,380)
- Patients who no longer need isolation: 462,502 (of 461,406)
* 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.