Health officials in Minnesota hope that encouraging trends of COVID-19 will continue in the new year over the past month.
The average number of new COVID cases, hospital admissions and deaths has declined over the past few weeks, although over the past few days there has been a slight increase in cases and the positive percentage of the test.
Over the next few weeks, officials will be looking for signs of increases related to holiday events at the end of the year.
The distribution of COVID-19 vaccine continues in the state; As of Thursday, about 45,000 people had received at least one shot of the two-legged Pfizer or Moderna vaccinations. Healthcare workers and residents of long-term care institutions have priority over the limited number of doses currently available.
The state has so far received nearly 170,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine and nearly 128,000 of the Moderna vaccine.
The hopeful developments come after another gloomy month of the pandemic. The Minnesota Department of Health reported 1,730 COVID-19 deaths in December, the most of any month.
Updates from state health officials will resume Saturday after a break Friday for the New Year’s Day holiday. Saturday’s update will include data from Thursday; The Sunday update contains two days of data from Friday and Saturday.
Here is the stream of Minnesota COVID-19 statistics, from Thursday:
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5,233 deaths (61 reported Thursday)
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415,302 positive cases (2,204 reported Thursday), 397,080 discounts on isolation (96 percent)
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5.5 million tests, 3 million people tested (about 52 percent of the population)
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6.6 percent positive test score of seven days (officials find 5 percent regarding)
Known, active cases of the disease are still declining and are now just under 13,000, a peak of about 50,000 a month ago, which is part of an overall slowdown in case loads since their end of November, in early December.
The state reported 97,099 new positive cases of COVID-19 in December, a number of new cases that are only second in November’s 170,000 case record.
The trends in hospitalization have also improved significantly over the past two weeks. As of Wednesday, 895 people were in the hospital with COVID-19 in Minnesota, with 196 of the patients in need of intensive care. Both figures are about half lower than their late November peaks.
Cases are spread across age groups
People in their 20s still form the age group with the largest number of confirmed cases of the state – more than 79,000 since the pandemic began, including more than 42,000 among people aged 20 to 24.
The number of high school teens confirmed with the disease has also grown, with more than 32,000 cases since the age of 15 to 19 since the pandemic.
Although less likely to experience the worst effects of the disease and eventually being admitted to hospital, experts are concerned that young people will spread it to older family members and members of other vulnerable populations.
This is of particular concern because humans may have the coronavirus and can spread COVID-19 if they have no symptoms.
New cases fall across Minnesota
Central and western Minnesota have caused much of the increase in new cases over the past two months, while the provinces of Hennepin and Ramsey have shown some of the slowest growth in the state.
The cases are still falling across the country, and most regions are falling to levels ahead of the state’s COVID-19 boom that hit in November and early December.
Popular places keep popping up in rural provinces relative to their population.
Cases are still the heaviest among coloreds
In Minnesota and across the state, COVID-19 hit communities of color excessively hard in both cases and deaths. This is especially true for Minnesotans of Spanish descent for much of the pandemic.
Even as the number of new cases eases from a few weeks ago, the data show that coloreds are still being hit the hardest.
The distrust of the government, coupled with deep-rooted health and economic disparities, has hampered efforts to promote testing among color communities, officials say, especially among unauthorized immigrants who fear their personal information could be used to deport them.
Similar trends were seen among Minnesota natives. In October, the number of indigenous population jumped in proportion to the population.
Developments around the state
Sauk Center Hospital returns to routine surgery as COVID-19 patient population declines
A hospital in Sauk Center, Minn., Temporarily designated for patients with COVID-19, returns to normal surgery this week.
In November, CentraCare designated its hospital in Sauk Center for less critical patients with COVID-19. The move was aimed at putting pressure on his largest hospital in St. Louis. Cloud, Minnesota, where the sickest patients are treated.
Since then, the number of people admitted to the hospital and intensive care unit has declined.
Dr George Morris, commander of the medical incident for CentraCare’s COVID-19 response team, says the number of patients in the ICU dropped daily from 59 to normal levels from 17 to 22.
“We are now at a point where we can see that we are in a downward trend throughout, and that we can push them back into their normal work,” Morris said. “We have more employees on the premises. And we have We have managed ways. Every time we go through these crises, we learn.”
Morris said staff levels are also closer to normal. At one point, about 10 percent of CentraCare’s 13,000 employees were away due to exposure to or tested positive for the virus, or caring for a family member.
More than 2,000 CentraCare employees have now received a first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, along with residents and staff from five long-term care facilities, Morris said.
– Kirsti Marohn | MPR News
Top headlines
106-year-old COVID survivor receives vaccine in Central Minnesota: At the Carris Health Care Center and Therapy Suites in Willmar, Minn., 20 residents received initial doses Tuesday. The first to receive a vaccine was Harriet Lobbins. She recovered after having COVID-19 in mid-November.
Opposition to Minnesota’s bar and restaurant COVID-19 restrictions is still bubbling: Government Tim Walz’s emergency restrictions on drinking and dining within January 10, and opponents say some agencies are calmly defying the order. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said he would continue to sue businesses that do not comply.
California announces first confirmed case of COVID-19 variant: California has announced its first confirmed case of the new and apparently more contagious variant of the coronavirus. This was the second case documented in a day in the US.
Pandemic brings a Dakota woman home to Southern Minnesota: Back in March, reporter Dan Kraker met Pat Northrup in her apartment in Cloquet, Minn., Where she danced a jingle dance with her family and friends. Since then, the pandemic has increased her life; someone in her apartment contracted the virus and Northrup, now 70, decided to move to her daughter’s house, just a few kilometers west of the Indian community of Lower Sioux, where she grew up.
COVID-19 in Minnesota
The data in these graphs are based on the cumulative totals of Minnesota’s Department of Health released daily at 11 p.m. You can find more information about COVID-19 at Website of the Department of Health.
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