Minnesota National Guard via Flickr
Monday’s Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) COVID update includes 1,152 new cases and zero deaths.
Zero new mortality keeps the state total at 6,782 throughout the pandemic. Of the total deaths, 63% (4,248) were residents of long-term care.
It is the first time since March 25, 2020 that the state has not reported a death on a regular day. Zero deaths were recorded on Thanksgiving Day, Christmas, and New Year’s Day, which were not regular informal days.
As of March 20, the state reported that 1,430,349 people have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, while 850,829 people have completed the vaccine doses that are needed for the maximum effect of the vaccines.
MDH has a public bulletin board to track the progress of vaccines in Minnesota and you can see it here.
Hospitalizations
As of March 21, the number of people with COVID-19 hospitalized in Minnesota was 318, which exceeds 316 on Friday.
Of those hospitalized, 77 were in intensive care (up to 77 who were reported on Friday) and 241 received treatment that did not belong to the ICU (less than 242).
Tests and positivity rates
The 1,152 positive results of Monday’s update came from 19,381 completed tests, creating a daily positivity rate of 5.94%
According to Johns Hopkins University, the Minnesota test positivity rate over the past seven days is 4.66%.
The World Health Organization recommends that a percentage of positive percentages (divided by the total number of tests completed) below 5% be needed for at least two weeks to reopen the economy safely. This 5% threshold is based on the total positives divided by the total tests.
Coronavirus in Minnesota by the numbers
- Total tests: 7,968,369 (up to 7,949,000)
- Tested people: 3,614,368 (up to 3,606,590)
- People with at least 1 vaccine: 1,430,349 (compared to 1,408,601)
- People who have completed it. series of vaccines: 850,829 (up to 839,860)
- Positive cases: 506,376 (up to 505,224)
- Deaths: 6,782 – 370 of which are “probable *” (no changes since 6,782)
- Patients who no longer need isolation: 489,279 (up to 488,156)
* Probable deaths are patients who died after testing positive for the COVID-19 antigen test, which is thought to be less accurate than the more common PCR test.