State public health leaders to inform reporters at 2pm
Updated 11:40 AM
Tuesday’s COVID-19 data continues to show relatively stable and moderate growth in new cases and deaths. Minnesota officials, however, believe that another increase is likely in the coming weeks after the holidays.
The Department of Health reported 1,335 new confirmed or probable cases of the disease, along with an additional 13 deaths.
Almost 700 people were in the hospital with COVID-19, with 135 needing intensive care. Those counts have dropped by more than half in the past four weeks. The seven-day trend in new hospital admissions has dropped to levels not seen since late October.
Even as they applaud recent positive trends, health officials have signaled that another increase is expected. Tuesday’s data showed that Minnesota’s count of active confirmed cases has increased, though still much lower than last month.
Governor Tim Walz said in mid-December that his COVID-19 observers were concerned about a February peak. On Monday, health commissioner Jan Malcolm prepared Minnesota residents to see daily deaths and the case count rising again.
“We hope to see cases appearing again in Minnesota after the holidays and potentially just as a result of the winter passing and more time indoors and more meetings,” Malcolm told reporters.
Overall, Minnesota’s COVID-19 path remains difficult to trace due to reports from these holiday seasons.
The cases reported on Tuesday put Minnesota at 438,867 in the pandemic. Of these, about 95% recovered to the point that they no longer need to be isolated.
Recently reported deaths have increased the death toll in Minnesota to 5,724. Among those who died, about 64 percent lived in long-term care facilities or assisted living facilities; most had latent health problems.
State officials say more than 147,000 Minnesota residents have been vaccinated.
“We’re satisfied? No, ”said Malcolm on Monday of the current rate of vaccination. “We hope that these numbers will increase steadily from here. In fact, it was only on Friday of last week that we started getting data for a week that didn’t have a major holiday or blizzard. “
Number of cases spread across age groups
People in their 20s still make up the age group with the highest number of confirmed cases in the state – more than 83,500 since the start of the pandemic, including more than 44,000 among people between the ages of 20 and 24.
The number of school-age youth confirmed with the disease has also grown, with more than 34,000 cases in total between 15 and 19 years since the pandemic began.
Although they are less likely to experience the worst effects of the disease and end up hospitalized, experts fear that young people and young adults may spread the disease to older relatives and members of other vulnerable populations.
It is especially worrying because people can have the coronavirus and spread COVID-19 when they have no symptoms.
New cases spread across Minnesota
A relatively small increase in new cases is happening across the state.
Hot spots continue to emerge in rural counties in relation to their population.
The number of cases is even heavier among people of color
In Minnesota and across the country, COVID-19 hit communities of color disproportionately in cases and deaths. This was especially true for Minnesota residents during much of the pandemic.
Even with the ease of counting new cases since the peak of late November, early December, the data show that people of color continue to be the hardest hit.
Mistrust in the government, coupled with deep-seated health and economic disparities, has hampered efforts to increase testing among communities of color, officials say, especially among unauthorized immigrants who fear that their personal information may be used to deport them.
Similar trends were seen among Minnesota’s indigenous residents. The number of indigenous people increased in October in relation to the population.
COVID variant surfaces
Minnesota health officials were looking for signs that a new, more contagious variant of the coronavirus had entered the state – and over the weekend, they received confirmation.
The Department of Health reported Saturday night that five people in the Twin Cities metropolitan area contracted the variant – and that it was probably more common across the state.
The authorities say that while it is thought to be more easily transmitted from one person to another, it has not been found to cause more serious illnesses.
The real threat of the new strain is a possible dramatic jump in the number of sick people, Michael Osterholm, head of the Centers for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota.
Statewide developments
Minnesota sets up phone alert system that tracks COVID
Minnesota is making some changes to the phone alert system it uses to help track COVID-19.
The change applies to many Apple iPhone users. The state’s information technology agency, MNIT, said this weekend that users with newer operating systems will receive a warning that allows them to activate exposure notifications without using the separate COVID-19 app. It is part of a widely used technology, developed by Apple and Google, that can be incorporated into a phone’s operating system.
The service has all the features of the app, using Bluetooth technology and randomly assigned numbers to detect other people in the vicinity and subsequently share anonymously if either party reports a positive COVID-19 test. The new version, like the application itself, does not collect individual information or track locations.
– Tim Nelson | MPR News
10th Minnesota State Prison Inmate Dies After COVID Diagnosis
An inmate at the Minnesota prison in Faribault died Friday night at a hospital in Minneapolis. Corrections Department officials said he was recently diagnosed with COVID-19.
The 57-year-old man is the tenth COVID-related death of an inmate in the state prison system and the sixth in Faribault prison. The man’s name was not released.
Prison officials said on Friday that three other prisoners who tested positive for COVID-19 were in critical condition.
More than 10 percent of the nearly 1,700 prisoners in Faribault prison were positive for COVID-19 on Friday.
Prison officials said they started vaccinating prison health workers, as well as prisoners in long-term care facilities, following state and federal vaccination guidelines.
– MPR News team
Top headlines
According to Minn. It goes through the first round of vaccinations, some providers worry about being left out: Minnesota is approaching the last phase of its initial COVID-19 vaccinations. But providers, like home substance abuse treatment centers and mental health providers, say they still don’t know when and where their staff will receive the vaccine.
Minnesota residents with disabilities wonder when they will receive the COVID-19 vaccine: As a group, people with disabilities often suffer disproportionately from the effects of the pandemic.
COVID-19 in Minnesota
The data in these charts are based on the Minnesota Department of Health cumulative totals released daily at 11 am You can find more detailed statistics on COVID-19 at Department of Health website.
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