Credit: US Navy Photo by Mass Communications Specialist 1st Class Kyle Steckler, via Flickr
Friday’s COVID update from the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) contains 1,048 new cases and a total of 19 deaths.
The newly reported deaths bring the state to 6,362 in the course of the pandemic. Of the deaths, 63% (4,011) were residents of long-term care, including 15 of the 19 reported on Friday.
As of February 10, the state reported that 617,896 people had received at least 1 dose of COVID-19 vaccine, while 189,902 people had completed both doses of vaccinations required for the maximum effect of the vaccines.
MDH has a public dashboard to track the progress of vaccines in Minnesota, and you can see it here.
Two new variants of the coronavirus have been confirmed in Minnesota, including what was the first known case of the Brazil P.1 variant in the United States. The case involves a Minnesotan who traveled to Brazil. There are 8 confirmed cases of the B.1.1.7 variant. Both new strains are believed to be more transmissible.
Hospitalizations
As of Feb. 11, the number of people with COVID-19 hospitalized in Minnesota was 326 – a slight increase from 320 the previous day. Of those admitted to the hospital, 73 were in intensive care (less than 78) and 253 received non-ICU treatment (versus 242).
Across the country, there were 161 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 1,048 positive results in Friday’s update were from a total of 43,554 completed tests, resulting in a daily test positivity rate of 2.4%.
According to Johns Hopkins University, Minnesota’s test positivity rate over the past seven days is 3.29%, making it one of the lowest rates in the country.
The World Health Organization recommends that a percentage positive rate (total positive divided by total completed tests) of less than 5% is required for at least two weeks to safely reopen the economy. The 5% threshold is based on total positives divided by total tests.
Coronavirus in Minnesota by Numbers
- Total tests: 6,914,135 (from 6 871 077)
- People tested: 3 348 043 (from 3,337,790)
- People shot with at least 1 vaccination: 617 896 (higher than 599 218)
- People with 2 vaccine shots: 189 902 (versus 177 239)
- Positive cases: 471 851 (from 470,803)
- Deaths: 6 362 – 265 of which are “probably *” (compared to 6 343)
- Patients who no longer need isolation: 457,359 (increased from 456,849)
* 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.