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COVID-19 death gradually decreasing in MN
COVID-19 deaths have been declining since the start of the pandemic about five years ago. FOX 9's Mike Manzoni has the latest.
(FOX 9) - COVID has killed fewer people each year since the pandemic started, steadily dropping from a high of just under 6,000 in 2020 to under 1,000 in 2024, according to state data.
COVID killing fewer people but remains a threat
By the numbers:
COVID killed 5,926 people statewide in 2020, the year the pandemic took hold. It killed about a thousand fewer people the following year, and the number of deaths continued to decline through 2024, when it killed 917 people.
What they're saying:
Dr. Frank Rhame, a Minneapolis-based infectious disease physician, said that while the numbers are encouraging the virus remains a public health threat.
"Clearly, it is gradually declining. Not rocketing down but gradually declining," he explained. "We got better and better at resisting it, and so there’s a cumulative immunity now and it can’t make as big a jump as it did before…."
But he cautioned that the virus is "here to stay" and remains a threat to some populations, including unvaccinated people who are 85 and older.
What's next:
Rhame still recommends getting the COVID vaccine but said it eventually may not be recommended for everyone every year.