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Wednesday’s COVID update from the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) includes 922 new cases and nine new deaths.
The recently reported deaths bring the state total to 6,705 over the course of the pandemic. Of the total deaths, 63% (4,224) were residents of long-term care facilities, including four of the last nine deaths.
As of March 7, the state has reported that 1,086,936 people have received at least 1 dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, while 602,623 people have completed the two doses of the vaccine necessary for the maximum effect of the vaccines.
MDH has a public panel to monitor the progress of the vaccine in Minnesota, and you can view it here.
Hospitalizations
As of March 9, the number of people with COVID-19 hospitalized in Minnesota was 243, up from 231 reported on Tuesday.
Of those hospitalized, 64 are in intensive care (more than 50) and 179 are receiving treatment outside the ICU (below 181).
Test rates and positivity
The 922 positive results in Tuesday’s update were 20,704 tests completed, creating a 4.45% daily test positivity rate.
According to Johns Hopkins University, the Minnesota test positivity rate for the past seven days is 2.48%.
The World Health Organization recommends that a percentage rate of positivity (total positives divided by total tests completed) 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: 7,627,320 (above 7,606,434)
- People tested: 3,533,579
- People with at least 1 vaccine injection: Wednesday TBD update (from 1,086,936)
- People with 2 vaccines: Wednesday TBD update (above 602,623)
- Positive cases: 493,013 (from 492,108)
- Deaths: 6,705 – 368 of which are “probable *” (above 6,696)
- Patients who no longer need isolation: 479,267 (out of 478,422)
* 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.