Minnesota kicks off the first full week of 2021 with COVID-19 numbers in a much better place than a month ago.
But there have been signs over the past few days that a week-long downward trend could decline in new cases, hospital admissions and test positivity figures.
Sunday’s update of state health officials covered two days of data, which caught up with the New Year’s holiday. It temporarily destroys the weekly averages that can show the pandemic trends better than the daily numbers, temporarily.
But before Sunday’s updated numbers, there were signs of a possible stall in a steady decline in several key statistics.
The average test positivity rate over the past week is now about 7.1 percent in Minnesota – up from 4.7 percent last Sunday. The average daily number of cases increased from about 1,700 early last week, to nearly 1,900 since the Saturday update.
It is still too early to determine whether the performance is a short-term deviation and whether it will continue – and some statistics reporting may be affected by the end of the annual holiday. This will be closely monitored as we get further into January – and officials have already been waiting for signs of increases related to holiday events.
COVID-19 vaccinations continue in the state. As of Saturday’s update of the Minnesota Department of Health, just over 57,000 people have received at least one of the two vaccinated Pfizer or Moderna vaccines; this figure was not updated on Sunday. Healthcare workers and residents of long-term care institutions prefer 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.
Here is the stream of Minnesota COVID-19 statistics, was reported on Sunday and covers two days’ data:
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5,430 deaths (53 new)
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420,544 positive cases (2,714 new), 403,419 discounts on isolation (96 percent)
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5.7 million tests, 3 million people tested (about 52 percent of the population)
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7.1 percent positive test score of seven days (officials find 5 percent regarding)
Cases are spread across age groups
People in their 20s still form the age group with the largest number of confirmed cases in the state – more than 80,000 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, returned to normal surgery last 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 all the time, and that we can push them back to more of their normal work,” Morris said. “We have more employees on the premises. And we’ve got ways done. 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.
As of last week, more than 2,000 CentraCare employees received a first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, along with residents and staff of 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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