Latest on COVID-19 in MN: Data shows strong stance for holiday
3 things to know
13 straight days of active case counts below 1,000; average new cases trending below 100 a day
67 percent of residents 16 and older have at least one vaccine shot; 63.9 percent are completely vaccinated
5 more deaths bring state’s pandemic death toll to 7,610
Updated: 11:45 a.m.
Minnesota’s snapshot of COVID-19 data offers more evidence that the pandemic remains in check for the holiday. Active cases, hospital admissions and positivity rates remain at or near April 2020 lows.
Vaccination rates, however, are also flattening out, as state officials move their original goal post for 70 percent 16 and older vaccinated with one dose by July 1. Recent vaccination rates suggest Minnesota won’t reach that milestone until mid-August.
Gov. Tim Walz on Thursday said the state will have 70 percent of its 18-and-older population with one shot by July 4, which is the current goal of the Biden administration.
Officials have been watching to see if the end of capacity restrictions on bars and restaurants in late May would generate more viral spread. So far, so good.
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Health officials also noted that they will not release new COVID-19 numbers on Sunday or Monday, due to the Fourth of July holiday.
Metrics hover near pandemic lows
Known, active COVID-19 cases in Minnesota came in at 818 in Saturday’s data, staying below 1,000 for the 13th consecutive reporting day, though slightly higher than earlier in the week. It’s part of a stunning drop since May 1, when Minnesota had more than 15,000 active cases.
Receding caseloads mean fewer hospitalizations. As of Friday the Health Department reported 108 people hospitalized with COVID-19 in Minnesota, slightly above a record low set earlier this week since the state began recording this data more than a year ago.
Twenty-two patients needed an intensive care unit bed. ICU admissions are at their lowest since March 2020.
Five newly reported deaths on Saturday pushed Minnesota’s pandemic toll to 7,610. Among those who have died, about 59 percent had been living in long-term care or assisted living facilities; most had underlying health problems.
The state has recorded 605,660 total confirmed or probable cases in the pandemic, including the 116 posted Saturday.
About 99 percent of Minnesotans known to be infected with COVID-19 have recovered to the point where they no longer need to isolate.
Regionally, all parts of Minnesota are in good shape, near record lows with no signs of an upswing.
People in their 20s still make up the age bracket with the state’s largest number of confirmed cases — more than 112,000 since the pandemic began.
Although young people are less likely to feel the worst effects of the disease and end up hospitalized, experts worry they can spread it unknowingly to older relatives and members of other vulnerable populations.
Vaccination pace crawls
While Minnesota’s vaccination rate showed an uptick in Thursday’s data, the state is running around 3,500 new first shots per day. The pace has fallen dramatically since peaking in April.
Nearly 3 million residents 16 and older now have at least one vaccine dose. More than 2.8 million are completely vaccinated. That’s about 63.9 percent of the state’s 16-and-older population completely vaccinated and 67.1 percent with at least one shot, including 91 percent of people 65 and older.
Add in more than 108,000 12-to-15-year-olds with at least one dose and Minnesota has topped three million residents with one or more shots. About 52 percent of the state’s total population is now completely vaccinated.
The vaccination pace, however, continues to trip along.
Minnesota’s also seeing big regional gaps in vaccination rates, with most counties outside the Twin Cities region still below 70 percent of adults vaccinated.
State shifts COVID-19 reporting as pandemic ebbs
As caseloads and hospitalizations continue to fall toward zero, the Minnesota Health Department on Thursday said it would make several notable changes to its COVID-19 data reporting.
Among the changes, Minnesota will:
Now report COVID-19 deaths by the actual date of death rather than the date the death was reported.
Stop posting updated data on weekends, starting July 10. Data posted on Mondays will be as of 4 a.m. on Fridays. Data posted on Tuesdays will be for the remainder of Friday, Saturday, Sunday and as of 4 a.m. on Monday, the agency said.
Stop updating and posting the 14-day case rate by county each week. School districts had used that data to guide decision-making on when to bring students back into school buildings.
COVID-19 in Minnesota
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 Health Department website.