COVID In MN: Key Figures Still Trending Downward
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- As the Twin Cities lift their mask mandates and a new Omicron subvariant is being tracked in Minnesota, state health officials reported 1,075 new COVID-19 cases and 47 more deaths Thursday.
The state's average positivity rate continues to dip, last reported at 7.2% after peaking at nearly 24% last month. Likewise, the number of daily new cases per 100,000 residents is dropping, now at 27.3.
The state has now seen 1,411,593 total cases, including 60,856 reinfections. The virus has killed 12,066 Minnesotans.
As of Wednesday, there were 601 COVID-19 patients in Minnesota hospitals; 93 of those were in intensive care unit beds. Beds are beginning to free up across the state, though there are still only 12 ICU beds available across the entire metro area.
Since the start of the pandemic, 60,212 Minnesotans have been hospitalized with the virus; 11,151 of those required intensive care.
Nearly 9.4 million vaccine doses have been administered in the state, including 2.1 million boosters. Of the state's 5+ population, 74.4% have at least one shot.
On Thursday, the mayors of both Twin Cities announced their mask mandates were lifted, effective immediately, citing downward trends in key figures. The mandates had been reenacted last month as the Omicron variant spread.
Meanwhile, another type of the Omicron variant -- called Omicron BA.2 -- has been detected in Minnesota, and health officials are tracking it. The new subvariant is believed to be more contagious, but not necessarily more deadly, than the first.