Credit: April Ellers, Minneapolis VA Health Care System
Saturday’s COVID update from the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) includes 1,072 new cases and 19 new deaths.
The new reported deaths bring the state total to 6,187 in the course of the pandemic. Of those deaths, 63.4% (3,922) were long-term care residents, including 11 of the 19 reported Saturday.
As of January 28, the state reported that 381,204 people had received at least one dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, an increase of more than 35,000 the day before, while 105,361 people had completed the necessary vaccine doses for the vaccines. full effect: an increase of 8,519.
MDH has a public bulletin board to track the progress of vaccines in Minnesota and you can see it here.
Two new coronavirus variants have been confirmed in Minnesota, including the first known case of the Brazil P.1 variant in the United States. This case involves a Minnesota man who recently traveled to Brazil. There are 8 confirmed cases of variant B.1.1.7. The two new strains are believed to be more transmissible.
Hospitalizations
Hospitalization data is not updated on weekends.
Until January 28. The number of people with COVID-19 hospitalized in Minnesota was 450. Of those hospitalized, 95 were in intensive care and 355 received treatment that was not used in the ICU.
Across the state, there were 166 staffed ICU beds available. During the November climb, the state had fewer than 100 ICU beds available. The number of beds available depends on the number of staff available, so totals are constantly changing.
Test rates and positivity
The 1,072 positive results of Saturday’s update came from a total of 32,732 completed tests, which created a daily positivity rate of 3.27%.
According to Johns Hopkins University, the Minnesota test positivity rate over the past seven days is 3.81%, making it one of the lowest rates in the country.
The World Health Organization recommends that to reopen the economy requires a percentage of positive percentages (divided by the total number of tests completed) below 5% for at least two weeks, this 5% threshold is based on the total of positives divided by the total of tests.
Coronavirus in Minnesota by the numbers
- Total tests: 6,545,968 (up to 6,513,797)
- Tested people: 3,253,030 (to 3,244,005)
- People with at least 1 vaccine: 381,204 as of January 28 (compared to 345,636)
- Positive cases: 460,819 (from 459,747)
- Deaths: 6,187 – 247 of which are “probable *” (up to 6,168)
- Patients who no longer need isolation: 444,782 (to 443,253)
* 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.