Photo of the United States Marine Corps by Staff Sgt. Jordan E. Gilbert
Sunday’s COVID update from the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) includes 996 new cases and 13 new deaths.
The newly reported deaths bring the state’s total to 6,200 during the pandemic. Of those deaths, 63.4% (3,929) were long-term care residents, including 7 of 13 reported Sunday.
Through January 29, the state reported that 418,299 people received at least 1 dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, while 111,715 people completed both doses of vaccine necessary for the full effect of the vaccines.
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 admitted to hospital 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. At its peak in November, 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 996 positive results in Sunday’s update were from a total of 30,362 tests completed, creating a daily test positivity of 3.28%.
According to Johns Hopkins University, Minnesota’s positivity rate in the past seven days is 3.77%, 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: 6,576,802 (higher than 6,545,968)
- People tested: 3,264,300 (from 3,253,030)
- People with at least 1 vaccine shot: 381,204 as of January 28 (higher than 381,204)
- Positive cases: 461,807 (from 460,819)
- Deaths: 6,200 – 248 of which “likely *” (up from 6,187)
- Patients who no longer require isolation: 446,137 (from 444,782)
* 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.