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The main message of Monday’s briefing: The increase in the number of cases is almost entirely due to unvaccinated people catching the delta variant, which now accounts for three-quarters of all new cases, said MDH Commissioner Jan Malcolm .
Malcolm said just a few weeks ago, “the new cases of COVID each day were below 100 and now, as of last Friday, there are over 400 new cases, and the vast majority are from the delta variant,” Malcolm said. “And, this is just a sobering reminder that we are certainly not done with this pandemic as much as we would like.”
“Revolutionary” cases in vaccinated people remain rare. Malcolm said 99.9% of fully vaccinated Minnesotans did not contract the coronavirus.
Health officials have said the breakthrough cases are well within the range they expected from vaccines, which are not entirely 100% effective in preventing infection. In these rare cases, COVID-19 remains much less severe for patients.
“We still have a lot of viruses circulating, and the virus that is circulating more and more often is this highly contagious variant that will find the unprotected ones and infect them at much higher rates,” said Malcolm. “… We don’t want to give the virus a chance to evolve in a way that will or may in the future be more troublesome than what we have even seen so far.”
Gov. Tim Walz said the spread of the delta variant has not yet been severe enough to trigger a return to some of the pandemic restrictions put in place last year. MDH officials echoed this position, saying getting vaccinated remains the most effective way to keep the virus at bay.
Malcolm said the state hopes to get more detailed advice from the federal government in the coming days on mask warrants for young children as they return to school soon and she also said the state hopes that ’emergency authorization for children under 12 to be vaccinated will take place before the end of the year.
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