Minnesota health officials report 5 COVID deaths, 1,227 new cases

[ad_1]

MINNEAPOLIS — The test positivity rate for COVID-19 in Minnesota has crept upwards in recent days as new diagnoses of the virus continue to be reported.

The Minnesota Department of Health announced 1,227 new confirmed cases of the illness and five deaths. The deaths were among Twin Cities metro-area residents ranging in age from their 50s to 60s. One death was reported in Lyon County, and another was reported in Olmsted County.

As of March 17, the rate of positive tests for the virus was at 4.7%, which is up from the beginning of the month, when the rate was 3.5%. As of March 17, 43% of cases were attributed to community spread of the virus, meaning 43% of new cases were not traced to other known cases or known outbreaks. That’s well above the MDH threshold of 30% to be considered “high risk” to public health. The community spread rate has not been below that threshold since August last year.

Following are the latest MDH COVID-19 case rates, deaths, hospitalizations and vaccinations as of Sunday, March 28. Because all data is preliminary, some numbers and totals may change from one day to the next.

Statewide case rates

Hospitalizations, deaths

• ACTIVE HOSPITALIZATIONS: 357

• TOTAL CUMULATIVE HOSPITALIZATIONS: 27,067

• DEATHS, NEWLY REPORTED: 5

• TOTAL DEATHS: 6,830

Vaccinations

• FIRST DOSE ADMINISTERED: 1,590,826

• COMPLETED SERIES: 976,061

As a public service, we’ve opened this article to everyone regardless of subscription status. If this coverage is important to you, please consider supporting local journalism by clicking on the subscribe button in the upper righthand corner of the homepage.

[ad_2]

Source link