Minnesota health officials expect the encouraging trends from COVID-19 last month to be carried over into the new year.
The average number of new cases of COVID, hospital admissions and deaths has been decreasing in recent weeks – although there has been a slight increase in cases and in the rate of positivity of the test in recent days.
In the coming weeks, officials will be on the lookout for signs of increased cases that may be linked to the holiday season.
The distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine continues throughout the state; as of Thursday, about 45,000 people had received at least one injection of the Pfizer or Moderna two-dose vaccines. Health professionals and residents of long-term care facilities have priority for the limited number of doses currently available.
The state has already received nearly 170,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine and almost 128,000 of the Modern vaccine.
The promising developments come with the end of yet another dark month of the pandemic. The Minnesota Department of Health reported 1,730 COVID-19 deaths in December, most of any month.
Updates from state health officials will resume on Saturday after a break on Friday for the New Year’s Day holiday. Saturday’s update will include Thursday’s data; Sunday’s update will include two-day data from Friday to Saturday.
Here are the current ones from Minnesota COVID-19 Statistics, starting on Thursday:
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5,323 deaths (61 reported Thursday)
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415,302 positive cases (2,204 reported Thursday), 397,080 out of isolation (96 percent)
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5.5 million tests, 3 million people tested (about 52 percent of the population)
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6.6 percent positive test rate in seven days (employees consider 5 percent about it)
The known and active cases of the disease continue to fall and are now just below 13,000, having peaked at around 50,000 a month ago, part of a general slowdown in the number of cases since its peak in late November, early November. December.
The state reported 97,099 new positive cases of COVID-19 in December, a volume of new cases second only to the record of 170,000 cases in November.
Hospitalization trends have also improved significantly over the past two weeks. As of Wednesday, 895 people were in the hospital with COVID-19 in Minnesota, with 196 of those patients needing intensive care. Both numbers fell about half from the peaks of late November.
Number of cases spread across age groups
People in their 20s still make up the age group with the highest number of confirmed cases in the state – more than 79,000 since the start of the pandemic, including more than 42,000 among people between the ages of 20 and 24.
The number of school-age youth confirmed with the disease has also grown, with more than 32,000 total cases between the ages of 15 and 19 since the pandemic began.
Although they are less likely to experience the worst effects of the disease and end up hospitalized, experts fear that young people and young adults may spread the disease to older relatives and members of other vulnerable populations.
It is particularly worrying because people can have the coronavirus and spread COVID-19 when they have no symptoms.
New cases decline in Minnesota
Central and western Minnesota have driven much of the increase in new cases in the past two months, while Hennepin and Ramsey counties have shown some of the slowest case growth in the state.
Cases continue to fall across the state, with most regions falling to levels prior to the increase in the state’s COVID-19 that hit in November and early December.
Hot spots continue to emerge in rural counties in relation to their population.
The number of cases is even heavier among people of color
In Minnesota and across the country, COVID-19 hit communities of color disproportionately in cases and deaths. This was especially true for Minnesota residents during much of the pandemic.
Even though counts of new cases easier since the peak a few weeks ago, the data show that people of color remain the hardest hit.
Mistrust in the government, along with deep-seated health and economic disparities, has hampered efforts to increase testing among communities of color, officials say, especially among unauthorized immigrants who fear that their personal information could be used to deport them.
Similar trends were seen among Minnesota’s indigenous residents. The number of indigenous people increased in October in relation to the population.
Statewide developments
Sauk Center hospital returns to routine operations as the number of COVID-19 patients falls
A Sauk Center, Minnesota hospital, temporarily assigned to patients with COVID-19, is returning to normal operations this week.
In November, CentraCare designated its hospital at the Sauk Center for less critical patients with COVID-19. The move was aimed at easing pressure on its largest hospital in St. Cloud, Minnesota, where the sickest patients are treated.
Since then, the number of people admitted to the hospital and intensive care unit has decreased.
Dr. George Morris, commander of medical incidents on the COVID-19 response team at CentraCare, says the number of patients in the ICU has dropped from 59 to more normal levels from 17 to 22 a day.
“We are at a point now where we can see that we are consistently on the downward trend and that we can push them back to regular work,” said Morris. “We have more employees on site. And we manage manners. Every time we go through these crises, we learn.”
Morris said staffing levels are also closer to normal. At one point, about 10 percent of CentraCare’s 13,000 employees were out of work due to exposure or positive testing for the virus, or for caring for a family member.
More than 2,000 CentraCare employees have already received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, along with residents and employees from five long-term care facilities, Morris said.
– Kirsti Marohn | MPR News
Top headlines
106-year-old COVID survivor receives vaccine in central Minnesota: At the Carris Health Care Center and Therapy Suites in Willmar, Minnesota, 20 residents received their starting doses on Tuesday. The first to receive the vaccine was Harriet Lobbins. She recovered after having COVID-19 in mid-November.
Opposition to COVID-19 Minnesota bar and restaurant restrictions still bubbling: Governor Tim Walz’s emergency restrictions on drinks and in-house dinners are valid until Jan. 10, and opponents say some establishments continue to defy order quietly. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said he will continue to file lawsuits against companies that fail to comply with obligations.
California announces the first confirmed case of the COVID-19 variant: California announced its first confirmed case of the new and apparently more contagious coronavirus variant. It was the second documented case in the United States in a day.
Pandemia brings a woman from Dakota home to southern Minnesota: In March, reporter Dan Kraker met Pat Northrup at her apartment in Cloquet, Minnesota, where she danced a jingle dressed in dance with her family and friends. Since then, the pandemic has changed his life; someone in his apartment contracted the virus and Northrup, now 70, decided to move in with his daughter, just a few kilometers west of the Lower Sioux indigenous community, where she grew up.
COVID-19 in Minnesota
The data in these charts are based on the Minnesota Department of Health cumulative totals released daily at 11 am You can find more detailed statistics on COVID-19 at Department of Health website.
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