Minnesota reports 727 new COVID-19 cases, 8 deaths Tuesday
(FOX 9) - Minnesota health officials reported 727 new cases of COVID-19 and eight additional deaths Tuesday.
There have now been 456,490 COVID-19 cases confirmed in Minnesota since the beginning of the pandemic and a total of 6,106 Minnesotans have died from the disease to date, according to the latest state Department of Health data.
The 727 newly reported cases were out of 21,382 tests—a 3.4% positivity rate. The state’s seven-day average positivity rate is 3.9%. Anything over 5% is a concern for MDH.
Minnesota has averaged 1,191 new COVID-19 cases per day over the last week.
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Six of the eight deaths reported on Tuesday were in the Twin Cities metro while the other two were in Greater Minnesota. The people who died ranged in age from 60-84 years old.
Only one of the deaths was in a long-term care or assisted living facility. Over two-thirds of the state’s deaths have been in those types of facilities.
The number of COVID-19 patients in the ICU in Minnesota appears to have stabilized. Over the past six days, the state has gone from 98 COVID-19 patients in the ICU to 112 to 100. Non-ICU hospitalizations for COVID-19 are continuing to decline. Six days ago, there were 460 people hospitalized, but not in the ICU, with COVID-19. On Tuesday, MDH reported there are 396 non-ICU hospitalizations for COVID-19 across the state.
The 396 non-ICU COVID-19 hospitalizations is the lowest that number has been since late October. The peak number of non-ICU COVID-19 hospitalizations was 1,471 during Thanksgiving.
The pace of vaccinations is picking up in Minnesota. From Jan. 19-22, the state administered an average of 20,684 COVID-19 vaccinations per day.
As of Jan. 24, 284,441 Minnesotans have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and 67,567 are fully inoculated.