Credit: New Jersey National Guard via Flickr
Sunday’s COVID update from the Minnesota Department of Health includes 32 new deaths and 1,181 new cases.
The newly reported deaths bring the state’s total to 6,095 over the course of the pandemic. Of those deaths (63.5%) (3,875) were long-term care residents, including 22 of the 32 reported Sunday.
Meanwhile, through Jan. 21, the state reported that 247,415 people received at least 1 dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, while 63,185 people completed both doses of vaccine necessary for the full effect of the vaccines.
The health department has launched a public dashboard to track vaccine distribution in Minnesota, and you can watch it here.
The B.1.1.7. A variant of the coronavirus first discovered in the UK has been found in Minnesota, with health officials confirming five cases of the variant in the Twin Cities metro area so far, but no further disclosure has been made as of early January.
Hospital admissions
Hospitalization data is not updated on weekends.
Through January 21, the number of people with COVID-19 admitted to hospital in Minnesota was 543. Of those admitted to hospital, 104 were in intensive care and 439 received non-ICU treatment.
Statewide 163 staffed IC 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 1,181 positive results in Sunday’s update came from a total of 34,874 completed tests, creating a daily test positivity rate of 3.38%.
According to Johns Hopkins University, the positivity rate in Minnesota in the past seven days is 4.66%, making it one of the lowest rates in the country.
The World Health Organization recommends that a positive rate (total positive 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: 6,367,721 (from 6,332,647)
- People tested: 3,206,509 (from 3,193,783)
- Positive cases: 454,989 (from 453,808)
- Deaths: 6,095 – 231 of which “likely *” (up from 6,063)
- Patients who no longer require isolation: 437,827 (higher than 436,544)
* 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.