Tuesday’s COVID-19 update from the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) includes 1,690 new cases and seven newly reported deaths, though the numbers are inflated because it’s a cumulative of three days (Saturday, Sunday and Monday).  

The state’s death toll is 7,705 since the start of the pandemic. Of the total deaths, 58.8% (4,528) were residents of long-term care.

As of August 5, the state reported that 3,214,610 (an increase of more than 15,000 from Monday’s report, though it too is three days of totals) people have received at least 1 dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, while 3,025,683 people have completed their vaccine series. The percentage of Minnesota’s population with at least one shot, based on age group:

• 12-15: 45%
• 16-17: 54%
• 18-49: 60%
• 50-64: 73%
• 65+: 92%
• Total population: 58%

54.4% of Minnesota’s total population, including children under the age of 12 who are not eligible for the vaccine, has completed the vaccine series. That jumps to 64.3% when excluding kids under the age of 12. MDH has a public dashboard to track vaccine progress in Minnesota, and you can view it here.

Hospitalizations

Through August 9, the number of people with COVID-19 hospitalized in Minnesota was 333 (up from 299 reported Monday).

Of those hospitalized, 92 people were in intensive care and 241 were receiving non-ICU treatment. It’s the highest level of COVID-19 hospitalizations since May 24-25. 

Testing and positivity rates.

The 1,690 positive results in Tuesday’s update were from 52,379 completed tests, creating a test positivity rate of 3.22%.

According to Johns Hopkins University, Minnesota’s test positivity rate over the past seven days is 5.37%, which has been rising as the Delta variant spreads, having recently been below 1%.

The World Health Organization recommends that a percent positive rate (total positives divided by total completed tests) of below 5% for at least two weeks is necessary to safely keep the economy open. That 5% threshold is based on total positives divided by total tests.

Coronavirus in Minnesota by the numbers

• Total tests: 10,848,125 (up from 10,796,739)
• People tested: 4,736,898 (up from 4,702,839)
• People with at least 1 vaccine shot: 3,214,610 (up from 3,199,358)
• People who have completed vaccine series: 3,025,683 (up from 3,018,637)
• Positive cases: 620,591 (up from 618,906)
• Deaths: 7,705 – 424 of which are “probable*” (up from 7,698)
• Patients no longer requiring isolation: 606,738 (up from 604,597)

* Probable deaths are patients who died after testing positive using the COVID-19 antigen test, which is thought to be less accurate than the more common PCR test.