COVID In Minnesota: 633 Newly Confirmed Cases In Past 24 Hours As Vaccine Efforts Ramp Up
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- As Gov. Tim Walz reported Tuesday that the state's COVID-19 vaccination effort is picking up steam with twice as many shots being administered per day this week compared to last, the Minnesota Department of Health reported 633 more cases of the virus, and eight more deaths.
While those figures continue the overall story of declining case figures in recent weeks, the health department reports that only about 10,221 COVID-19 tests were processed in the last 24 hours, suggesting a daily positivity rate over 6%. Tuesday typically shows a smaller amount of tests processed due to the weekend.
Close to 3.3 million people have taken a test in Minnesota.
According to the Minnesota Department of Health, there have been 463,132 total cases confirmed in Minnesota since the start of the pandemic last March. The state's death toll is now 6,210. About two-thirds of the deaths have occurred in long-term care or assisted living facilities.
The state's latest figures show a rolling seven-day average positivity rate is at 4.8% as of Jan. 21, due to data lag; that's considered to be below the threshold for caution, according to the health department. The new hospitalizations rate per 100,000 residents is also down to 10.1%, which is still considered to be in the high-risk category but close to below the line.
As of Jan. 30, there have been 559,383 doses of the COVID vaccine distributed in the state; 116,248 people have completed the vaccine series, that's a jump of about 5,000 from the day before.
Data released by the governor's office shows that vaccinations surged last week, with the rolling seven-day average reaching nearly 30,000 doses administered daily by the weekend. A week prior, that average was around 17,000 doses.
Almost 24,500 people have needed hospitalization for the virus since the pandemic began. As of Jan. 31, there are 92 patients with COVID-19 needing intensive care unit beds and an additional 295 patients needing non-ICU beds. The last time the latter figure was under 300 was Oct. 6.
On Monday, the state health department launched a new vaccine locator map to help people connect with clinics, hospitals and other places statewide where they can get appointments.
