COVID In Minnesota: Virus Death Toll Surpasses 4,000

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) - Minnesota passed another grim milestone on Monday, surpassing 4,000 deaths due to COVID.

With the additional 21 deaths reported by the Minnesota Department of Health, 4,005 people have died in the state since March. It took 71 days to record the first 1,000 deaths in Minnesota, but only 19 days to go from 3,000 to over 4,000 deaths.

Health officials also added 5,296 cases to the state's tally, bringing the total to 356,152. Over 310,000 of those people no longer need to self-isolate.

There are currently 1,567 people in Minnesota hospitals, with 362 in the ICU. Roughly 88% of ICU beds are currently in use, and only 4.5% of non-ICU beds are available in the metro area.

However, some numbers show a glimmer of hope; new cases per 100,000 residents has fallen from a high of 123.1 on Nov. 11 to 90.4 on Nov. 26. Hospitalizations have also fallen from 36.2 per 100,000 residents on Nov. 19 to 30.2 on Nov. 26. At the same time, the percentage of cases with no known exposure is at an all-time high of 37.6%. The seven-day rolling average positivity rate has ticked up again to 11.2%, after falling to 10.7% on Nov. 25.

Health experts are saying they are expecting an increase in cases and hospitalizations stemming from travel around the Thanksgiving holiday.

In the past 24 hours, labs across the state have processed over 63,000 COVID tests. More than 2.6 million Minnesotans have been tested for the virus so far. Testing is one of the main ways the state fights against COVID, and free community testing continues.

MORE: Order An At-Home COVID Test

Gov. Tim Walz is expected to provide an update on the state's COVID-19 response at 2 p.m. on Monday. You can watch it live on CBSN Minnesota.