Credit: Marc A. Hermann / MTA New York City Transit via Flickr
The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) Sunday’s COVID update includes 901 new cases and 10 new deaths.
The recently reported deaths bring the state total to 6,299 during the course of the pandemic. Of these deaths, 63% (3,971) were residents of long-term care facilities, including 5 of the 10 reported on Sunday.
As of February 5, the state reported that 554,102 people received at least 1 dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, while 156,638 people completed the two doses of the vaccine needed for the full 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 recently traveled to Brazil. There are 8 confirmed cases of variant B.1.1.7. Both new strains are believed to be more transmissible.
Hospitalizations
Hospitalization numbers are not updated on weekends.
Test rates and positivity
The 901 positive results in Sunday’s update were a total of 27,922 tests completed, creating a daily test positivity rate of 3.22%.
According to Johns Hopkins University, the Minnesota test positivity rate for the past seven days is 3.53%, making it 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: 6,780,024 (over 6,751,744)
- People tested: 3,314,427 (over 3,305,989)
- People with at least 1 vaccine injection: 554,102 (over 525,236)
- People with 2 vaccines: 156,638 (over 147,321)
- Positive cases: 468,118 (out of 467,217)
- Deaths: 6,299 – 261 of which are “probable *” (above 6,289)
- Patients who no longer need isolation: 453,225 (over 452,183)
* 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.