Active COVID-19 cases in the state have been steadily declining since the beginning of December. However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still recommends Americans stay at home and limit travel during winter holidays to keep family and community members safe.
The 13 deaths announced Tuesday included residents aged 60 to 90: four residents of Cass County, two men from Burleigh County, two men from Walsh County, and one resident from Grand Forks, Morton, Renville, Stutsman and Ward.
The total death toll from the North Dakota pandemic is now 1,170 North Dakotans.
While the number of active cases in the state is declining, North Dakota still ranks near the top in the US for active cases per capita and is now once again leading the nation in COVID-19 deaths per capita. the population as of Monday, according to the CDC. For more than a week, other states had surpassed North Dakota as the deadliest in the US.
Monday morning, Sanford Health received its first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. Frontline Sanford Health employees will receive the first doses and more doses are expected to come in every week. CHI St. Alexius Health in Bismarck is expected to receive the first doses of the vaccine on Tuesday, December 15, and plans to vaccinate the first members of staff in the afternoon.
And even as the number of active infections is declining, hospitals are still dealing with high COVID-19 admissions. 277 residents have been hospitalized for the disease, seven more than the previous day.
On Tuesday, 39 of North Dakota’s 53 counties reported at least one new COVID-19 case, including:
- 80 from Cass County, which includes Fargo and West Fargo.
- 45 from Burleigh County, which includes Bismarck.
- 23 of Grand Forks County.
About 7.5% of the 3,385 residents tested as part of the final batch received a positive result, and an average of about 7.6% of the residents tested in the past two weeks received a positive result. Like active cases, the state positivity rate has declined significantly over the past month.
As a public service, we’ve opened this article to everyone regardless of subscription status. If this coverage is important to you, consider supporting local journalism by clicking the subscribe button in the top right corner of the homepage.
Readers can reach reporter Michelle Griffith, a reporter for the United States Corps, at [email protected].