Credit: Naval Medicine via Flickr
The Minnesota Health Department’s Friday COVID update includes 33 new deaths and more than 1,600 new cases.
Among the recent deaths, epidemics in the state have killed 5,850 people, of which 63.8% (3,734) were residents of long-term care, 18 of 33 reported on Friday.
Minnesota on Saturday evening confirmed the first five cases of the UK mutant variant, with residents of four Twin City counties with a positive test of B.1.1.7, part of COVID-19. Editions after falling ill between December 16–31.
Further cases of new strain have not been confirmed but health officials believe the variant is largely roaming in Minnesota.
Meanwhile, the state reported on Thursday that 162,040 people received at least 1 dose of the Pfizer or Modern Vaccine on January 12, while 24,745 people have completed both doses of the vaccine, which are required for the vaccine’s full effect.
The Department of Health has launched a public dashboard to track vaccine distribution throughout Minnesota, and you can see it here.
admitted to hospital
Through January 14, the number of people with hospitalized COVID-19 in Minnesota was 612, the lowest number of reported COVID admissions since October 25 (584).
Of those hospitalized, 125 (above 131 on the first day) were in intensive care, and 487 (below 514) were receiving non-ICU treatment.
Across the state, 148 staff ICU beds were available. During November, less than 100 staff ICU beds were available in the state. The number of available beds is dependent on the number of available staff, so totals are constantly changing.
Test and positivity rate
Friday’s update had 1,640 positive results out of a total of 46,861 completed tests, making a daily test positivity rate of 3.5%.
According to Johns Hopkins University, Minnesota’s test positivity rate over the past seven days is 5.79%.
The World Health Organization suggests that a positive rate of less than 5% (total positive divided by total positive tests) for at least two weeks is necessary to secure the economy again. That 5% threshold is based on positivity divided by total tests.
By the number of coronaviruses in Minnesota
- Total Testing: 6,090,114 (Above 6,043,802)
- People tested: 3,124,903 (Above 3,112,884)
- Positive Cases: 443,562 (up from 441,935)
- Deaths: 5,850 – 213 of which are “probable *” (more than 5,817)
- Patients no longer require isolation: 422,289 (Above 420,919)
* Possible deaths are patients who died after testing positive using the COVID-19 antigen test, which is believed to be less accurate than the more common PCR test.
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