Credit: Phil Roeder via Flickr
Tuesday’s COVID update from the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) includes 586 new cases and six new deaths.
The newly reported deaths bring the state’s total over the course of the pandemic to 6,308. Of those deaths, 63% (3,977) were long-term care residents, including five of six reported Tuesday.
Through February 7, the state reported that 569,164 people received at least 1 dose of the a COVID-19 vaccine, while 162,132 people completed both doses of the vaccine necessary for the maximum 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 P.1 variant in Brazil in the United States. That case involves a Minnesota man who 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
Through February 8, the number of people with COVID-19 hospitalized in Minnesota was 321. Of those hospitalized, 74 were in intensive care and 247 received non-ICU treatment.
Statewide, 177 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 564 positive results in Tuesday’s update came from a total of 10,623 tests completed, creating a daily test positivity of 5.31%.
According to Johns Hopkins University, Minnesota’s positivity rate in the past seven days is 3.47%, making it one of the lowest rates 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: 6,808,634 (higher than 6,798,547)
- People tested: 3,322,594 (higher than 3,321,315)
- People with at least 1 vaccine shot: 569,164 (from 556,482)
- People with 2 vaccination shots: 162,132 (from 158,763)
- Positive cases: 469,254 (from 468,682)
- Deaths: 6,308 – 262 of which “probably *” (from 6,302)
- Patients who no longer require isolation: 455,280 (from 454,290)
* 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.