Due to Labor Day holidays, data from September 4-7 is included in today’s update. The figures will be higher than usual due to the lag in reporting.
The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) Wednesday’s COVID-19 update includes 5,777 new cases and 9 recently reported deaths, including three people in their forties in Becker, Otter Tail and Ramsey counties. Seven of the nine deaths occurred in August, and two occurred in September.
The death toll in the state has been 7,865 since the start of the pandemic. Of the total deaths, 58.0% (4,555) were long-term care residents.
As of Sept. 6, the state reported that 3,342,677 people have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, while 3,149,597 people have completed the vaccine series. The percentage of Minnesota’s population with at least one trait, by age group:
- 12-15: 52%
- 16-17: 58%
- 18-49: 62%
- 50-64: 74%
- 65 years or older: 92%
- Total population: 60%
56.6% 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 67.0% 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 Sept. 7, the number of people with COVID-19 hospitalized in Minnesota was 654 (up from 615 reported Tuesday).
Of those hospitalized, 174 people are in intensive care and 480 in general care. The spring increase recorded a maximum of 202 patients in intensive care and 517 people in general hospital care.
The number of people hospitalized according to the regional location is explained below, although this does not mean that each patient has contracted the virus in these specific regions, as they may have been diverted depending on the beds available.
- Metro: 93 UCI, 260 in the UCI
- Central: 28 UCI, 56 in the UCI
- Southeast: 24 UCI, 66 no UCI
- Northeast: 13 UCI, 28 no UCI
- Northwest: 5 UCI, 14 no UCI
- South center: 5 UCI, 36 in the UCI
- Southwest: 2 UCI, 13 no UCI
- West center: 4 UCI, 7 in the UCI
Test rates and positivity.
The 5,777 positive results of Wednesday’s update correspond to 81,167 completed tests, which generated a test positivity rate of 7.11%.
According to Johns Hopkins University, the Minnesota test positivity rate over the past seven days is 6.56%.
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: 11,684,659 (compared to 11,603,529)
- Tested people: 5,199,753 (compared to 5,152,429)
- People with at least 1 vaccine: 3,149,597 (to 3,332,860)
- People who have completed the vaccine series: 3,134,652 (compared to 3,134,652)
- Positive cases: 663,248 (compared to 657,492)
- Deaths: 7,865 – 433 of which are “probable *” (up to 7,856)
- Patients who no longer need isolation: 642,434 (to 635,784)
* 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.