Minnesota National Guard
Monday’s COVID update from the Department of Health in Minnesota contains four new deaths and fewer than 1,000 new cases.
The newly reported deaths bring the state to 5,711 in the course of the pandemic, of which 64% (3,655) were residents of long-term care, including two of the four reported Monday.
Minnesota confirmed the first five cases of the British mutant variant of COVID-19 on Saturday night, with residents in four Twin Cities counties testing positive for the B.1.1.7. variant after becoming ill between 16 and 31 December.
Meanwhile, the state reported Monday that 147,645 people had been vaccinated with the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. The state received 396,350 doses.
Hospitalizations
As of Jan. 10, the number of people with COVID-19 hospitalized in Minnesota was 686, down from 787 reported on Jan. 6. This is the lowest number of admissions since October 28 (680).
Of those admitted to the hospital, 141 (compared to 130 reported Friday) were in intensive care, and 545 (less than 629) received non-ICU treatment.
In total, there were 180 staff ICU beds available. During the November boom, the state had fewer than 100 ICU beds. The number of available beds depends on the number of available staff, and the total is therefore constantly changing.
Test and positivity rates
The 980 positive results in Monday’s update were from a total of 15,980 completed tests, creating a daily test positivity rate of 6.13%.
According to Johns Hopkins University, Minnesota’s positivity rate from Minnesota over the past seven days is 8.25%, retreating after falling below 5% just over a week ago.
The World Health Organization recommends that a percentage positive rate (total positive divided by total completed tests) of at least two weeks below 5% is needed to safely reopen the economy. The 5% threshold is based on total positive share through total tests.
Coronavirus in Minnesota by Numbers
- Total tests: 5,953,863 (higher than 5,935,902)
- People tested: 3,089,057 (higher than 3,082,747)
- Positive cases: 437,552 (versus 436,572)
- Deaths: 5,711 – 202 of which “is probably *” (versus 5,707)
- Patients who no longer need isolation: 417,005 (from 414,756)
- Total people vaccinated: 147,645 (versus 132,280)
* Probable deaths are patients who died after testing positive using the COVID-19 antigen test, which is thought to be less accurate than the more common PCR test.