COVID In Minnesota: For 2nd Straight Day, Only 1 New Death Reported
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- With COVID-19 numbers continuing to trend downward and vaccinations rising, the Minnesota Department of Health has reported 513 more cases of the virus, and one more death. This makes two days in a row with only one COVID death reported by the state.
According to the Minnesota Department of Health, there have been 480,091 total cases confirmed in Minnesota since the start of the pandemic last March. The state's death toll is now 6,434.
As of Feb. 20, there have been 1,125,916 doses of the COVID vaccine distributed in the state. So far, 362,156 people have completed the vaccine series, or about 6.4% of the state's overall population.
Vaccination stats show that the number of women who have at least one vaccine dose outnumber men by a close to 2-to-1 margin, with 486,215 women having had one shot compared to 269,583 men.
The state's latest figures show a rolling seven-day average positivity rate is at 3.6% as of Feb. 14, 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 holding relatively steady at 7.4%, which is still in the realm of caution, but below high risk as well.
On the other hand, the rate of COVID-19 cases with no known source -- in other words, through community spread -- has never been higher; the latest figure shows nearly 46% of cases in that category. Anything above 30% is considered high risk, and anything above 20% is considered cause for caution.
Hospitalization figures also continue their downward trend. Almost 25,500 people have needed hospitalization for the virus since the pandemic began. As of Feb. 22, there are 54 patients with COVID-19 needing intensive care unit beds and an additional 215 patients needing non-ICU beds. Numbers that low haven't been seen since last summer.
The health department reports that about 9,300 COVID-19 tests were processed in the last 24 hours, suggesting a daily positivity rate over 5.5%. However, Tuesday typically shows a smaller amount of tests processed due to the weekend.
Over 3.4 million people have taken a test in Minnesota.
