COVID In Minnesota: State Tallies More Than 10,000 Reinfections Since Pandemic’s Start

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — As post-Thanksgiving crowds hit stores for Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday deals, health officials in Minnesota report 4,131 new cases of COVID-19 and 56 deaths.

In all, the state has seen 895,229 COVID-19 cases since March of 2020 and 9,338 total deaths. There have been more than 10,000 reinfections in the state since the pandemic started.

The positivity rate is holding at 11% as of Wednesday (due to data lag), but that’s still above the “high risk” threshold and a figure not seen since December 2020.

The state is seeing 75.6 new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents; it is also well above the “high risk” line, which is drawn at 10 cases.

More than 64% of Minnesota’s total population of those age 5 and older has completed an initial vaccine series.

Last week, the FDA and CDC authorized booster shots for all adults; Americans are eligible six months post-second dose for Pfizer and Moderna recipients, or two months after receiving a Johnson & Johnson dose. Minnesota has administered more than 932,000 booster doses.

Still, hospitals are filled with mostly unvaccinated patients, and health care workers report feeling beaten back and exhausted as they struggle with staffing shortages and crowded emergency rooms. Dozens of Minnesota hospitals do not have any beds available to care for sick patients.

As of Monday afternoon, 330 patients were in ICU hospital beds, and 1,132 were in non-ICU hospital beds. Northeastern Minnesota does not have any staffed ICU beds available in the region, and the metro area has only one available. Pediatric ICU beds are also in short supply, with none available in central or southeastern Minnesota.

Source: New feed