North Dakota reports more than 500 new cases of COVID-19 as infection curve steepens



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Hospital officials warn that the worsening epidemic could overwhelm the state’s health system if more residents do not adhere to vaccination, mask wear and social distancing.

Statewide case rate

  • NEW CASES REPORTED THURSDAY, SEPT. 2: 535

  • ACTIVE CASES *: 2,763

  • DAILY POSITIVITY RATE: 6.7%

  • TOTAL KNOWN CASES DURING THE PANDEMIC: 118,491

  • TOTAL RECOVERED DURING THE PANDEMIC: 114 116

* The Ministry of Health often changes the number of active cases after their first notification.

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Active cases in North Dakota are up 331 from the previous day as infections increase at a rapid rate.

Cass County, which includes Fargo, has the state’s best-known active cases with 527. Burleigh County had 510 known cases as of Thursday and Stark County, which includes Dickinson, had 234. Stark County Also leads the state in active cases per capita, followed by several other counties with low vaccination rates in central and western North Dakota.

The state’s 14-day rolling average positivity rate was 6.7% – the highest rate since December.

Hospitalizations, death

Hospitalizations were down slightly from the previous day, but healthcare providers have struggled in recent times to keep up with the surge in admissions due to staff shortages. Unlike last fall’s COVID-19 peak, hospitals are treating many non-coronavirus patients in addition to high-maintenance COVID-19 patients.

North Dakota had 15 staffed intensive care beds available statewide as of Wednesday, as well as 195 staffed inpatient beds. Bismarck and Minot hospitals did not have intensive care or inpatient beds available, while the three Fargo hospitals had a set of nine intensive care beds and 12 inpatient beds.

The state reported a death in rural Golden Valley on Thursday. The department no longer provides information on the sex or age of deceased residents.

The department began publishing data on “breakthrough” cases among fully vaccinated residents last week. During the week of August 22, the state reported 22 hospitalizations where the person was fully vaccinated and 80 hospitalizations where the person was not fully vaccinated.

Vaccination

  • FIRST DOSE ADMINISTERED *: 349,154 (52.7% of the population aged 12 and over)

  • COMPLETE VACCINE COVERAGE *: 321,663 (48.5% of the population aged 12 and over)

* These numbers are from the state’s Vaccine Dashboard, although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which includes vaccinations performed at federal sites, reports slightly higher vaccination rates.

North Dakota ranks in the bottom ten states in terms of vaccination rates, although fear of the delta variant has led to a slight increase in the vaccination rate in recent weeks, said the Vaccination Coordinator of the ‘State, Molly Howell.

Even though a person can become infected with COVID-19 after being fully immunized, health officials point out that people with immunity often have less severe symptoms and are less likely to be hospitalized.

More information on vaccines is available at www.health.nd.gov/covidvaccinelocator.

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