COVID In Minnesota: State Reports Rolling Positivity Rate Of 4%; 6 More Deaths
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- As the state continues its efforts to ramp up vaccine distribution, the Minnesota Department of Health has reported 586 more cases of the virus, and six more deaths.
According to the Minnesota Department of Health, there have been 469,254 total cases confirmed in Minnesota since the start of the pandemic last March. The state's death toll is now 6,308. About two-thirds of the deaths have occurred in long-term care or assisted living facilities.
The state's latest figures show a rolling seven-day average positivity rate is at 4% as of Jan. 31, due to data lag; that's considered to be below the threshold for caution, according to the health department. The last time the average positivity rate was that low was in late June.
The new hospitalizations rate per 100,000 residents is also down to 7.7%, 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 39.1% of cases in that category.
As of Feb. 6, there have been 732,216 doses of the COVID vaccine distributed in the state. So far, 162,132 people have completed the vaccine series; at this time last week, that number was just above 116,000.
Hospitalization figures also continue their downward trend. Almost 24,500 people have needed hospitalization for the virus since the pandemic began. As of Feb. 8, there are 74 patients with COVID-19 needing intensive care unit beds and an additional 247 patients needing non-ICU beds. Those numbers haven't been seen since last summer.
The health department reports that only about 10,623 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 3.3 million people have taken a test in Minnesota.
A proposal from Minnesota House Republicans would chart a course for the state to reopen all businesses at full capacity by May 1, as some restaurants and hotels say they could go under in a few months under current economic conditions.
