COVID In Minnesota: 7 More Deaths Reported; Positivity Rate Falls To 2.3%
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Thursday's updated figures from the Minnesota Department of Health show infection and hospitalization trends continuing to plummet across the board, as vaccinations and COVID tests continue to plateau if not outright decrease.
The health department reports that the rolling average positivity rate is now at 2.3%, well below the threshold for increased caution. There are also a reported 4.3 daily new cases per 100,000 Minnesota residents, which is as low as that figure has been since April 2020, when restrictions were high statewide.
Hospitalization figures are also continuing to track down significantly. The latest figures of those hospitalized show 54 Minnesotans in ICU. There are an additional 138 reported hospitalizations for COVID in the state. The figures show an average of 4 new daily hospitalizations per 100,000 residents, which is below the line of caution.
On Thursday, the state health department reported 175 newly confirmed positive cases and seven new deaths due to the virus in the last 24 hours, from about 17,341 newly completed tests. Since the start of the pandemic, there have been 603,305 positive cases and 7,484 deaths.
As of Thursday morning, the latest figures from the Minnesota Department of Health showed that about 65% of Minnesotans 16 or older had received at least one dose, and 90% of those 65 or older had received at least one dose -- both figures having more or less remained the same for the last week.
In total, the state has administered 5,422,565 doses of vaccine, and has also reached about 2.68 million residents having completed their vaccine series.
Community spread remains about as high as has been reported since the start of the pandemic, with 48.5% of cases reported with no known source of exposure.
According to MDH, since the pandemic began, more than 4.26 million Minnesotans have been tested.
