Credit: April Ellers, Minneapolis VA Health Care System
Saturday’s COVID update from the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) includes 1,072 new cases and 19 new deaths.
The newly reported deaths bring the state’s total over the course of the pandemic to 6,187. Of those deaths, 63.4% (3,922) were long-term care residents, including 11 of the 19 reported Saturday.
Through January 28, the state reported that 381,204 people received at least 1 dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine – an increase from more than 35,000 the day before – while 105,361 people completed both doses of the vaccine necessary for the vaccines’ full effect – an increase of 8,519.
MDH has a public dashboard to track vaccine progress in Minnesota, and you can watch it here.
Two new variants of the coronavirus have been confirmed in Minnesota, including the first known case of the Brazilian P.1 variant in the United States. That case concerns a minnezotan who recently traveled to Brazil. There are 8 confirmed cases of the B.1.1.7 variant. Both new strains are believed to be more transferable.
Hospital admissions
Hospitalization data is not updated on weekends.
Through January 28, the number of people with COVID-19 hospitalized in Minnesota was 450. Of those hospitalized, 95 were in intensive care and 355 received non-ICU treatment.
Statewide 166 staffed ICU beds were available. During the November surge, the state had fewer than 100 staffed IC beds available. The number of available beds depends on the number of available staff, so the totals are constantly changing.
Test and positivity rates
The 1,072 positive results in Saturday’s update came from a total of 32,732 completed tests, creating a daily test positivity of 3.27%.
According to Johns Hopkins University, Minnesota’s positivity rate in the past seven days is 3.81%, making it one of the lowest in the country.
The World Health Organization recommends that a positive rate (total positives divided by total tests completed) of less than 5% for at least two weeks is required to safely reopen the economy. That 5% threshold is based on the total number of positives divided by the total number of tests.
Coronavirus in Minnesota in numbers
- Total number of tests: 6,545,968 (from 6,513,797)
- People tested: 3,253,030 (from 3,244,005)
- People with at least 1 vaccine shot: 381,204 as of January 28 (above 345,636)
- Positive cases: 460,819 (from 459,747)
- Deaths: 6,187 – 247 of which “likely *” (up from 6,168)
- Patients who no longer require isolation: 444,782 (from 443,253)
* Probable deaths are patients who died after a positive test using the COVID-19 antigen test, which is believed to be less accurate than the more common PCR test.