MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – As the state experiences a continued increase in advanced cases of COVID-19, health officials reported 1,904 additional virus cases and 22 more deaths on Thursday. Meanwhile, the most recent positivity rate has declined slightly.
The update brings the total positive cases in the state to 653,288 since the pandemic began, with 7,839 deaths attributed to the virus.
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According to the Minnesota Department of Health’s daily update, the state’s seven-day average positivity rate rose again, now standing at 6.7%. The positivity rate, which has been rising since it dropped to 1.1% at the end of June, remains in the “precautionary” state. The high-risk line is drawn at 10%.
UCI beds remain almost completely filled in the Twin Cities metropolitan area and southeastern Minnesota. In the last control, 97.2% of the ICU beds in the metro area were currently in use. The situation is almost as bad in southeastern Minnesota, where there are only nine beds still open (4.1%). The Twin Cities metropolitan area shows 19 ICU beds still available, along with 37 non-ICU beds, representing only 1% of the area’s capacity.
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27.8 new daily cases per 100,000 Minnesota residents are also reported, placing the state well above the line considered high risk. The state spent the first part of the summer well below the precautionary line, which is drawn in five new daily cases per 100,000 residents.
As of Thursday morning, the Minnesota Department of Health data showed that approximately 71.7% of Minnesota people 16 years of age or older had received at least one dose and 92.9% of those 65 or older had received at least one dose. In total, the state has administered 6,190,997 doses of vaccine, with more than 3.12 million residents completing their vaccine series.
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In an effort to minimize the spread of the Delta variant, more mass test sites are being opened in the metro area.