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Thursday’s COVID update from the Minnesota Department of Health includes 43 new deaths and more than 1,500 new cases.
The recently reported deaths bring the state’s total to 5,817 during the pandemic, of which 64% (3,716) were long-term care residents, including 23 of the 43 reported Thursday.
Minnesota confirmed the first five cases of the UK-based mutant variant COVID-19 on Saturday evening, with residents of four counties in Twin Cities having tested positive for B.1.1.7. variant after falling ill between December 16 and 31.
No other cases of the new strain have been confirmed, but health officials believe the variant is circulating widely in Minnesota.
Meanwhile, the state reported Thursday that 153,332 people had received at least 1 dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, while 15,082 people had completed the two doses of vaccine needed for the vaccines to have full effect. The Department of Health has launched a public dashboard to track vaccine distribution throughout Minnesota, and you can view it here.
Hospitalizations
Until January 13, the number of people with COVID-19 hospitalized in Minnesota was 645, which is the lowest number of COVID admissions reported since October 26 (614).
Among those hospitalized, 131 (against 129 the day before) were in intensive care and 514 (against 536) were receiving treatment not in an ICU.
Statewide there were 140 staffed intensive care beds. During the November push, the state had fewer than 100 intensive care beds available. The number of beds available depends on the number of staff available, so the totals are constantly changing.
Test and positivity rate
The 1,598 positive results in Thursday’s update came from a total of 36,678 completed tests, creating a daily test positivity rate of 4.35%.
According to Johns Hopkins University, Minnesota’s test positivity rate over the past seven days is 5.94%, a downtrend after falling below 5% just over a week ago. week.
The World Health Organization recommends that a percentage positive rate (total positives divided by total tests completed) of less than 5% for at least two weeks is necessary to safely reopen the economy. This 5% cutoff is based on the total positives divided by the total tests.
Coronavirus in Minnesota in figures
- Total tests: 6,043,802 (instead of 6,006,711)
- People tested: 3,112,884 (against 3,104,508)
- Positive cases: 441,935 (against 440,354)
- Death: 5,817 – 211 of which “probable *” (compared to 5,774)
- Patients no longer requiring isolation: 420,919 (compared to 419,139)
* Probable deaths are patients who died after testing positive using the COVID-19 antigen test, which is considered less accurate than the more common PCR test
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