Credit: Navy Medicine via Flickr
Monday’s Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) COVID update includes 555 new cases and a new death.
The recently reported death brings the state total to 6,433 in the course of the pandemic. Of these deaths, 62.7% (4,038) were residents of long-term care facilities, including the only death reported on Monday.
As of February 20, the state reported that 759,747 people had received at least 1 dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, while 356,911 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 one that was the first known case of the Brazil 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 21, the number of people with COVID-19 hospitalized in Minnesota was 235 – up from 282 on Thursday.
Of those hospitalized, 48 were in intensive care – against 59 on Thursday – and 187 were receiving treatment outside the ICU.
Test rates and positivity
The 555 positive results in Monday’s update were a total of 17,666 tests completed, creating a daily test positivity rate of 3.14%.
According to Johns Hopkins University, the Minnesota test positivity rate for the past seven days is 3.25%. It is roughly the same rate that Minnesota had in September, before a sudden increase in cases raised the rate to more than 15% in November.
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: 7,178,713 (from 7,161,046)
- People tested: 3,422,813 (above 3,417,125)
- People with at least 1 vaccine injection: 759,747 (over 754,602)
- People with 2 vaccines: 356,911 (out of 341,332)
- Positive cases: 479,591 (from 479,036)
- Deaths: 6,433 – 270 of which are “probable *” (above 6,432)
- Patients who no longer need isolation: 466,311 (above 465,382)
* 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.