COVID In Minnesota: 62 More Deaths As Omicron Variant Arrives In Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) —  With the omicron variant having been officially confirmed in Minnesota, the state’s health department reports that there have been 5,685 newly reported positive cases of COVID-19, along with another 62 deaths as the state nears the 10,000 fatality mark.

The newly logged deaths include someone from Beltrami County who was in their late teens.

Minnesota’s latest rolling seven-day average positivity rate has ticked down another notch, currently sitting at 10.3% from a recent peak of 11%. That’s still, however, above the line considered “high risk,” which is drawn at 10%. There are also a reported 64.2 daily new cases per 100,000 Minnesota residents, which puts the state well above the line considered high risk (which is all the way down at 10 per 100,000) but, again, significantly down from previous weeks.

According to the Minnesota Department of Health’s daily update, the state’s total number of people who have been infected by COVID has risen to 916,317 since the pandemic began, with 9,616 deaths attributed to the virus. Health officials say 10,614 have been reinfected since the start of the pandemic.

Hospitalizations remain about as high as they’ve been outside of November and December of last year. Total ICU bed usage among COVID-19 patients is at 353. Additionally, there are currently 1,203 COVID-19 patients being hospitalized in non-ICU beds. The rate of new COVID hospitalizations per 100,000 residents is at 21.7.

Hospitals across the state are making a desperate plea for the public’s help. All parts of the state have only single-digit figures for staffed ICU beds for adult patients. The same goes for beds intended for children.

As of Thursday morning, figures from the Minnesota Department of Health showed that about 70.1% of Minnesotans 5 and older had received at least one vaccine dose, and 96.3% of those 65 or older had received at least one dose. In total, the state has administered 7,894,561 doses of vaccine, with about 3.37 million residents having completed their vaccine series.

There have been more than 1.1 million vaccine booster shots given to eligible Minnesotans. Minnesota ranks second in the nation for booster doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, with 30% receiving additional shots as experts race to understand an emerging viral variant and blunt its impact.

Source: New feed