COVID In MN: 1,300+ New Cases Reported As Case Growth Continues Upward Trajectory

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The Minnesota Department of Health's newest data released Wednesday is showing that the COVID-19 case growth continues to increase over the last month.

In the agency's daily update, health officials reported five more deaths and 1,369 newly reported cases, bringing the state's death toll to 12,499 and the total positive cases reported to over 1.44 million.

Meanwhile, two major public health risk measures – case growth and the hospitalization rate – continue an upward trend. The former is now at 16.1 daily new cases per 100,000 residents, more than double the case growth recorded in mid-March. The high risk line is drawn at 10.

The hospitalization rate is nearly in the caution territory, last recorded at 3.9 new COVID-19 hospital admissions per 100,000 residents.

In the metro area, wastewater evidence collected by the Metropolitan Council shows that the viral load of COVID-19 has increased dramatically from mid-March to mid-April.

MDH no longer reports positivity rate due to changing federal test reporting requirements.

Nearly 75% of the state's eligible population has received at least one vaccine dose. Over 9.75 million doses have been administered.