Coronavirus (MN): Over 1 Million COVID-19 Tests Completed As 745 New Cases, 5 More Deaths Reported
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Just hours before the governor's expected update on the upcoming school year, health officials on Thursday morning reported that more than 1 million COVID-19 tests have been completed so far in Minnesota.
According to the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH), there were also 745 additional COVID-19 cases confirmed and five more deaths in the last 24 hours.
MORE ON THE DATA: MDH's Situation Update Page For COVID-19
The state's positive cases total now sits at 53,692. Positive cases are defined by the MDH as individual people who live in Minnesota who tested positive for COVID-19. Individuals are only counted once as a positive case, since multiple positive tests for the same person do happen.
Of the total positive cases, 46,965 patients have recovered and no longer need isolation.
There are now 1,594 total COVID-19 deaths recorded so far during the pandemic, with 1,219 of those being people in long-term care settings. Three of the five new deaths involved a person in long-term care.
In hospitals, 298 patients currently need treatment, which is 12 less than Wednesday. Of those hospitalizations, 141 need intensive care units -- down two since Wednesday.
Notably, the state breached 1 million completed tests Thursday: 1,007,882. About 14,800 tests were completed in the last 24 hours. The MDH says about 820,817 people have been tested.
According to the state's "Dial Back Dashboard", Minnesota's seven-day rolling positivity rate average remains at 5% as of July 21. If this positivity rate climbs to 15% or more than 5% over a two-week period, health officials will consider rolling back Minnesota's reopening.
Health officials continue to stress that the state's COVID-19 data is preliminary and may change as cases are investigated.
On Thursday afternoon, Gov. Tim Walz will be issuing an update on what schools will look like this fall, with districts likely having options within the guidance.
