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The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Minnesota climbed past 150,000 on Sunday, with concerning coronavirus trends from October carrying over into a new month.

Minnesota health officials reported 18 more deaths from the disease — matching the average daily death toll over the past week. That average was about nine per day at the start of October.

The daily increase in COVID-19 cases in Sunday’s report from the state health department was 2,217 — a drop from the 3,000-plus totals seen on Friday and Saturday. The number of new hospitalizations also dropped to 64, down from a record 151 on Saturday.

But looking at averages over the past week, the trend in new cases and hospital admissions is upward. Minnesota is averaging more than 2,400 new cases a day — up from 1,035 on Oct. 1. The average daily increase in hospitalizations over the past week is 118 — up from 60 at the start of October.

And the average test positivity rate over the past week ticked upward again, to 9.9 percent — well above the 5-percent level state officials have said is a critical threshold in policy decisions. The test positivity rate stood at about 4.6 percent at the start of October.

The 18 deaths reported Saturday included 13 residents of long-term care facilities. 

The rampant spread is being driven now by the “thousands of seemingly small decisions” Minnesotans make daily to meet and gather with others without wearing masks, socially distancing or taking other steps to stem the spread, state Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm told reporters this week.

New cases are up dramatically over the past month in all age groups.

People in their 20s still make up the age bracket with the state’s largest number of confirmed cases  — more than 32,900 since the pandemic began, including more than 18,300 among people ages 20-24. 

The number of high school-age children confirmed with the disease has also grown, with more than 13,000 total cases among children ages 15 to 19 since the pandemic began. 

Those numbers help explain why experts remain particularly concerned about teens and young adults as spreaders of the virus.

While less likely to feel the worst effects of the disease and end up hospitalized, experts worry youth and young adults will spread it to grandparents and other vulnerable populations. It’s especially concerning because people can have the coronavirus and spread COVID-19 when they don’t have symptoms. 

That led Gov. Tim Walz on Wednesday to urge

, a group he says is driving much of the asymptomatic virus spread.

"We want them to get tested so they can then know if they're infected so they can isolate,” added Dan Huff, an assistant state health commissioner. “That will help us stop that source of transmission in an area we just see as a major reservoir for the disease spreading out through the state."

Cases surging along Minnesota’s western border

Regionally, central and northern Minnesota have driven much of the recent increase in new cases while Hennepin and Ramsey counties show some of the slowest case growth in the state. 

Newly reported cases are highest in northwestern Minnesota. The data doesn’t explain why. However, cases are surging currently in the Dakotas. North Dakota and South Dakota, however, have the country’s worst per-capita spread rates.

Collectively, rural areas of Minnesota continue to report the most new COVID-19 cases.

Northern Minnesota, once the region least affected by the disease, has also seen its caseload grow dramatically in recent weeks. 

Western and northwestern Minnesota continue to see cases rise swiftly relative to it population. 

“We are seeing more deaths in greater Minnesota because we are seeing more cases there,”  Kris Ehresmann, the state’s infectious disease director, said last week. “We will see more and more deaths from greater Minnesota because of the high caseload.”

In Minnesota and across the country, COVID-19 has hit 

communities of color disproportionately hard

Minnesotans of Hispanic descent are testing positive for COVID-19 at about five times the rate of white Minnesotans. They, along with Black Minnesotans, are also being hospitalized and moved to intensive care units at higher rates than the overall population.

Similar trends hold true for Minnesota’s Indigenous residents. Counts among Indigenous people have jumped in October relative to population. The number of new COVID-19 cases among Native Americans has 

grown by about 75 percent in recent weeks

October data also show newly confirmed cases accelerating among Latino people in Minnesota.

, together with deeply rooted health and economic disparities, have hampered efforts to boost testing among communities of color, particularly for unauthorized immigrants who fear their personal information may be used to deport them. 

Spread threatens to swamp ‘flood walls’ 

Unlike earlier in the pandemic, health authorities believe the current outbreaks are being driven more by people letting their guard down at family gatherings and celebrations, sporting events and informal meetups rather than at stores, restaurants and bars. 

Officials had expected that late summer and early fall gatherings would bring a surge of cases in October. They also anticipated the wave would put more people in the hospital — and lead to more deaths. That’s come to pass. 

The current wave is especially worrisome because the state’s seeing cases rise again in long-term care facilities, where some of the state’s most vulnerable people live.

Despite efforts to protect those facilities, Minnesota saw 186 new cases in long-term care on Tuesday alone, said Ehresmann.

Many of these cases are due to community spread — health care workers getting infected outside the facilities and then bringing it in. “Even with the flood walls we built up, if the waters rise high enough, we’ll still have big problems,” Ehresmann said Thursday.

Here’s what to do

Surge has dire impacts on Mayo’s NW Wisconsin system

Mayo Clinic's northwest Wisconsin system is halting elective procedures as COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations surge.

Hospital officials say they're going to shift staff and beds to handle COVID-19 patients.

In the last week, the region's COVID-19 hospitalization load has doubled from 35 to 70. It’s the highest COVID-19 case load in the entire Mayo system.

Regional administration leader Jason Craig said a combination of high case counts, hospitalizations and limited staff have created a dire situation.

"What you saw on the news earlier this year in the spring in place like New York City, that's happening in the Chippewa Valley right now," he said.

More than 230 staff in the system are out because of COVID-19, he said, either because they have tested positive or because they are quarantining after being exposed. Craig said many of these cases are the result of community transmission.

Minnesota's cases continue their ascent as well, with more than 3,100 new cases reported Friday, a daily record.

Polling places in MN cities along the Mississippi get masks for Election Day

Thousands of masks have been shipped to polling places along the entire length of the Mississippi River, including cities in Minnesota. 

Leaders at the Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative coordinated and paid for the PPE deliveries. They say because of dwindling city revenue during the pandemic, some communities can’t afford election day safety measures on their own.

Red Wing, Minn., Mayor Sean Dowse said the city has been cutting taxes and forgiving fees, trying to keep the local economy afloat, so there’s not much money left over for protective gear.

“Minnesota is dealing with a long gradual rise in contagion, it’s really taxing our resources. In my county, Goodhue, new cases have peaked just this last week, and may continue and upward trend for the next few weeks,” Dowse said.

He said the masks will be given mostly to voters arriving at the polls without their own protective gear. Dowse said he hopes the additional gear will help blunt the spike in COVID-19 cases Minnesota has seen this week.

State plans to launch COVID-19 testing effort among young adults:

 Those between the ages of 18 to 35 represent the largest number of new cases in Minnesota right now — and Gov. Tim Walz said people within that age group who are infected with COVID-19 but don’t have any symptoms are driving much of the virus’ spread in the state.

Pandemic may add to misery of seasonal affective disorder, but strategies can help:

 Those used to struggling with seasonal depression have plans for how to feel better during the pandemic in winter. 

Data in these graphs are based on the Minnesota Department of Health's cumulative totals released at 11 a.m. daily. You can find more detailed statistics on COVID-19 at the 

How it compares with other diseases in 5 charts

Full coverage of the coronavirus pandemic

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The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Minnesota climbed past 150,000 on Sunday, with concerning coronavirus trends from October carrying over into a new month.


A person wearing PPE holds a swab while standing beside a truck. 

Christine T. Nguyen | MPR News file

David H. Montgomery | MPR News

New COVID-19 hospitalizations in Minnesota

Percent of COVID-19 tests to come back positive

New COVID-19 related deaths reported in Minnesota each day

Active, confirmed COVID-19 cases in Minnesota

New Minnesota COVID-19 cases by age, adjusted for population

Graph of new ICU and non-ICU COVID-19 hospitalizations

MN counties with the fastest per-capita growth in COVID-19 cases

Nov. 1 update on COVID-19 in MN: State passes 150,000 confirmed cases

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