Credit: Photo of the US Navy by 1st Class Mass Communication Specialist Kyle Steckler, via Flickr
Friday’s Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) COVID update includes 1,048 new cases and a total of 19 deaths.
The recently reported deaths bring the state total to 6,362 over the course of the pandemic. Of these deaths, 63% (4,011) were resident in long-term care facilities, including 15 of the 19 reported on Friday.
As of February 10, the state reported that 617,896 people had received at least 1 dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, while 189,902 people had completed the two doses of the vaccine needed 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.
Two new variants of the coronavirus have been confirmed in Minnesota, including the first known case of Brazil’s P.1 variant in the United States. This case involves a Minnesotan who traveled to Brazil. There are 8 confirmed cases of variant B.1.1.7. The two new strains are believed to be more transmissible.
Hospitalizations
As of February 11, the number of people with COVID-19 hospitalized in Minnesota was 326 – a slight increase from 320 the day before. Of those hospitalized, 73 were in intensive care (below 78) and 253 were receiving treatment outside the ICU (above 242).
Across the state, there were 161 ICU beds 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 1,048 positive results in Friday’s update were a total of 43,554 tests completed, creating a daily test positivity rate of 2.4%.
According to Johns Hopkins University, the Minnesota test positivity rate for the past seven days is 3.29%, being one of the lowest rates in the country.
The World Health Organization recommends that a percentage rate of positivity (total positives divided by total tests completed) below 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: 6,914,135 (over 6,871,077)
- People tested: 3,348,043 (over 3,337,790)
- People with at least 1 vaccine injection: 617,896 (over 599,218)
- People with 2 vaccines: 189,902 (out of 177,239)
- Positive cases: 471,851 (above 470,803)
- Deaths: 6,362 – 265 of which are “probable *” (over 6,343)
- Patients who no longer need isolation: 457,359 (over 456,849)
* 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.