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Credit: Navy Medicine via Flickr
Friday’s COVID update from the Minnesota Department of Health includes 33 new deaths and more than 1,600 new cases.
The newly reported deaths bring the state’s total to 5,850 during the pandemic, of which 63.8% (3,734) were long-term care residents, including 18 of 33 reported on Friday.
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, up to January 12, 162,040 people had received at least 1 dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, while 24,745 people had completed the two doses of vaccine needed for the vaccines 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 14, the number of people with COVID-19 hospitalized in Minnesota was 612, which is the lowest number of COVID admissions reported since October 25 (584).
Among those hospitalized, 125 (against 131 the day before) were in intensive care and 487 (against 514) were receiving treatment not in an ICU.
Statewide, there were 148 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 1,640 positive results in Friday’s update came from a total of 46,861 completed tests, creating a daily test positivity rate of 3.5%.
According to Johns Hopkins University, Minnesota’s test positivity rate over the past seven days is 5.79%.
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: 6,090,114 (against 6,043,802)
- People tested: 3,124,903 (compared to 3,112,884)
- Positive cases: 443,562 (vs. 441,935)
- Death: 5,850 – including 213 “probable *” (against 5,817)
- Patients no longer requiring isolation: 422,289 (vs. 420,919)
* 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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