Credit: Governor Tom Wolff via Flickr
Wednesday’s COVID update from the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) includes 1,323 new cases and nine new deaths.
The seven new deaths increase the death toll in the state to 6,798 during the course of the pandemic. Of the total deaths, 62.5% (4,254) were long-term residents.
As of March 22, the state has reported that 1,454,834 people have received at least 1 dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, while 862,955 people have completed the two doses of the vaccine required 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 23, the number of people with COVID-19 hospitalized in Minnesota was 332, up from 324 reported on Monday. There were 223 people with COVID-19 admitted to hospitals in Minnesota on March 6, so the numbers are increasing.
Of those hospitalized, 93 were in intensive care (against 87 reported on Monday) and 239 were receiving treatment outside the ICU (against 237).
Test rates and positivity
The 1,323 positive results in Wednesday’s update were 25,776 tests completed, creating a daily test positivity rate of 5.13%
According to Johns Hopkins University, the Minnesota test positivity rate for the past seven days is 4.85%.
The World Health Organization recommends that a percentage rate of positivity (total positives divided by the total of completed tests) 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: 8,006,344 (over 7,981,041)
- People tested: 3,624,885 (over 3,617,073)
- People with at least 1 vaccine injection: 1,454,834 (over 1,437,931)
- People who have completed. vaccine series: 862,955 (out of 854,827)
- Positive cases: 508,541 (over 507,231)
- Deaths: 6,798 – 370 of which are “probable *” (without changing 6,789)
- Patients who no longer need isolation: 491,410 (over 490,340)
* 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.