Minnesota reports over 1,000 COVID-19 cases in single day for first time, second most number of tests

(FOX 9) - The Minnesota Department of Health reported 1,099 new cases of COVID-19 out of 29,431 completed tests Friday—the second most in one day for the state. 

This is the first time Minnesota has surpassed 1,000 new cases in a single day, but the positivity rate from that day of tests was a relatively low 3.7%. Minnesota's positivity rate to date is 4.9% with 87,807 cases from 1,791,680 completed tests since the start of the pandemic But the key 7-day rolling average in Minnesota is 4.7% as of Sept. 8, Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm said Thursday. Anything over 5% is a concern for MDH, as its suggests a higher rate of community transmission. 

Minnesota has now seen a total of 87,807 cases of COVID-19. 

State health officials also reported eight more deaths attributed to COVID-19 Friday, six of which were in long-term care or assisted living facilities. The state’s death toll is now up to 1,950. 

The number of ICU cases and non-ICU hospitalizations remain steady. There are currently 136 COVID-19 patients in the ICU and 114 that are hospitalized, but not in the ICU. 

Thursday, MDH announced it was embarking on a four-week push to increase access to what health officials call “no barrier” COVID-19 testing in response to an increase of community spread across the state. 

For each of the next four weeks, state and local health officials will offer free COVID-19 testing to anyone, regardless of symptoms, in select communities where officials have identified clusters of the disease or a lack of large-scale testing.