COVID In Minnesota: 67% Of Minnesotans 16+ Have Received A Vaccine Shot
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) - As Gov. Tim Walz's emergency powers come to an end, the Minnesota Department of Health reported on Thursday that 5.7 million vaccines have been administered in the state since December.
State figures show that 67% of Minnesotans 16 and older have received at least one vaccine dose, while 63.8% are fully inoculated. For seniors, 91% have received their first dose, while 37% of children between 12 and 15 have have received one shot.
At the same time, MDH reported on Thursday 102 new cases of COVID-19 and five deaths, bringing statewide totals to 605,448 cases and 7,599 deaths since last March.
In the past weeks, the average positivity rate has been steadily declining; as of last week it had reached 1.2%, the lowest recorded figure since the state started publishing the data last April.
Data also shows that the state is seeing 1.7 new cases per 100,000 residents, though the percentage of cases who do not know where they contracted the virus still remains high at 46.7%.
Less than 100 people are in hospitals with virus symptoms as of Wednesday afternoon. Since the beginning of the pandemic, 32,688 cases have required hospitalization.
Roughly 13,000 COVID-19 tests were processed in the last day, and of the people who have contracted the virus, 597,069 no longer need to self-isolate.
Walz's emergency powers, which had been in place for 16 months of the pandemic, ended abruptly on July 1. The powers had allowed him to order mask mandates, close businesses and restaurants, order distance learning for schools, and open COVID-19 testing and vaccination sites throughout the state.
MDH also announced on Thursday that they will be updating their process for reporting daily COVID-19 numbers as the pandemic winds down in the state. Starting Thursday, they will be reporting deaths on the actual death date, instead of the day it was reported to the MDH. The 14-day COVID-19 case rate by county will not be updated every week, and starting July 10, MDH will not be updating numbers over the weekend.
