The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) Wednesday’s COVID-19 update includes 1,436 new cases and six recently reported deaths, all six in August.
The death toll in the state is 7,817 since the start of the pandemic. Of the total number of deaths, 58.2% (4,545) were long-term care residents.
As of August 30, the state reported that 3,317,709 people had received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, while 3,116,298 people had completed the vaccine series. The percentage of Minnesota’s population with at least one trait, by age group:
- 12-15: 51%
- 16-17: 58%
- 18-49: 62%
- 50-64: 74%
- 65 years or older: 92%
- Total population: 60%
56.0% of Minnesota’s total population, including those under the age of 12 who are not eligible for the vaccine, have completed the vaccine series. This jumps to 66.3% when children under 12 are excluded. MDH has a public bulletin board to track the progress of vaccines in Minnesota and you can see it here.
Hospitalizations
As of Aug. 31, the number of people with COVID-19 hospitalized in Minnesota was 614 (up from 589 reported Tuesday).
Of those hospitalized, 171 people are in intensive care and 443 in general hospital care. The spring increase recorded a maximum of 202 patients in intensive care and 517 people in general hospital care.
The following explains how many people are hospitalized by Minnesota region, although this does not mean that each patient has contracted the virus in those specific regions, as they may have been diverted based on available beds.
- Metro: 92 UCI, 247 in the UCI
- Central: 27 UCI, 54 in UCI
- Southeast: 29 UCI, 48 no UCI
- Northeast: 10 UCI, 29 no UCI
- Northwest: 9 UCI, 18 no UCI
- South center: 3 UCI, 27 in the UCI
- Southwest: 1 UCI, 15 no UCI
- West center: 0 UCI, 5 in the UCI
Test rates and positivity.
The 1,436 positive results of Wednesday’s update were 29,365 tests completed, creating a test positivity rate of 4.89%.
According to Johns Hopkins University, the Minnesota test positivity rate over the past seven days is 4.99%.
The World Health Organization recommends that a positive percentages (divided by the total number of tests completed) of less than 5% be needed for at least two weeks to keep the economy open safely.
Coronavirus in Minnesota by the numbers
- Total tests: 11,486,181 (to 11,456,835)
- Tested people: 5,094,127 (compared to 5,078,283)
- People with at least 1 vaccine: 3,317,709 (to 3,314,084)
- People who have completed the vaccine series: 3,116,298 (to 3,111,569)
- Positive cases: 651,388 (to 649,964)
- Deaths: 7,817 – 431 of which are “probable *” (up to 7,811)
- Patients who no longer need isolation: 631,796 (up to 630,243)
* 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.