Credit: Navy Medicine via Flickr
Friday’s Minnesota Department of Health COVID update includes 33 new deaths and more than 1,600 new cases.
The recently reported deaths bring the state total to 5,850 over the course of the pandemic, of which 63.8% (3,734) were residents of long-term care facilities, including 18 of the 33 reported on Friday.
Minnesota on Saturday night confirmed the first five cases of the UK-based mutant variant of COVID-19, with residents in four Twin Cities counties testing positive for B.1.1.7. variant after falling ill between 16 and 31 December.
No other cases of the new strain have been confirmed, but health officials believe the variant is widely circulating in Minnesota.
Meanwhile, the state reported Thursday that, by January 12, 162,040 people had received at least 1 dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, while 24,745 people completed the two doses of the vaccine needed for the full effect of the vaccines.
The health department has launched a public panel to track the distribution of vaccines across Minnesota, and you can view it here.
Hospitalizations
As of 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).
Of those hospitalized, 125 (against 131 the day before) were in intensive care and 487 (against 514) were receiving treatment outside the ICU.
Across the state, 148 ICU beds were available. During the November surge, the state had less than 100 ICU beds available. The number of beds available depends on the number of employees available, so the totals change constantly.
Test rates and positivity
The 1,640 positive results in Friday’s update were a total of 46,861 tests completed, creating a daily test positivity rate of 3.5%.
According to Johns Hopkins University, the Minnesota test positivity rate for the past seven days is 5.79%.
The World Health Organization recommends that a percentage rate of positivity (total positives divided by the total of completed tests) of less than 5% for at least two weeks is necessary to reopen the economy safely. This limit of 5% is based on the total of positives divided by the total of tests.
Coronavirus in Minnesota in numbers
- Total tests: 6,090,114 (above 6,043,802)
- People tested: 3,124,903 (over 3,112,884)
- Positive cases: 443,562 (over 441,935)
- Deaths: 5,850 – 213 of which are “probable *” (above 5,817)
- Patients who no longer need isolation: 422,289 (over 420,919)
* Probable deaths are patients who died after a positive test using the COVID-19 antigen test, which is considered less accurate than the most common PCR test.