Credit: Navy Medicine via Flickr
Thursday’s COVID update from the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) includes 1,410 new cases and 17 new deaths.
The recently reported deaths bring the state total to 6,251 over the course of the pandemic. Of these deaths, (63.2%) 3,955 were residents of long-term care facilities, including 9 of the 17 reported Thursday.
As of February 2, the state reported that 475,200 people had received at least 1 dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, while 128,694 people had 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 one that was the first known case of the Brazil P.1 variant in the United States. The case involves a miner who recently 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 3, the number of people with COVID-19 hospitalized in Minnesota was 369. Of those hospitalized, 82 were in intensive care and 287 were receiving treatment outside the ICU.
Across the state, there were 145 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 1,410 positive results in Thursday’s update were a total of 50,330 tests completed, creating a daily test positivity rate of 2.8%.
According to Johns Hopkins University, the Minnesota test positivity rate for the past seven days is 3.48%, 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 the total of completed tests) 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: 6,679,181 (from 6,628,961)
- People tested: 3,288,834 (above 3,276,111)
- People with at least 1 vaccine injection: 475,200 on February 2 (over 458,651)
- People with 2 vaccines: 128,694 on February 2 (up from 122,597)
- Positive cases: 465,176 (from 463,766)
- Deaths: 6,251 – 254 of which are “probable *” (above 6,234)
- Patients who no longer need isolation: 450,383 (above 449,707)
* 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.