Dec. 28 COVID-19 update: Active cases, hospitalizations dropping in Minnesota

Monday's coronavirus update from the Minnesota Department of Health reveals 13 more deaths but the continued decrease of hospitalized patients with COVID-19. 

There have now been 5,160 deaths from the virus during the pandemic, of which 64.7% (3,339) came from long-term care, including 7 of the 13 reported Monday.

As you'll read below, the good news is that Minnesota's hospitalizations, test positivity rate and active cases are all dropping. 

The state, nor anywhere in the United States, has yet to confirm the new variant of the coronavirus that is circulating in Europe and other parts of the world. 

Hospitalizations

Through Dec. 27, the number of people with COVID-19 hospitalized in Minnesota is 1,048. This is down from the 1,048 in the last update provided through Dec. 23. 

Of those hospitalized, 203 are in intensive care, and 675 were receiving non-ICU treatment. It's the fewest ICU COVID-19 patients since Nov. 3 (198). 

There are currently 158 available staffed ICU beds in Minnesota, which is a big improvement from when there were fewer than 100 a few weeks ago. 

Testing and positivity rates

The 1,087 positive results in Monday's update were from a total of 13,370 completed tests, creating a daily test positivity rate of 8.13%. 

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 reopen the economy. That 5% threshold is based on total positives divided by total tests.

According to Johns Hopkins University, Minnesota's test positivity rate over the past seven days is 4.61%, making Minnesota one of only four states in the U.S. under a 5% test positivity rate over a 7-day rolling average. 

Coronavirus in Minnesota by the numbers

• Total tests: 5,493,773 (up from 5,480,439)
• People tested: 2,952,115 (up from 2,947,634)
• Positive cases: 410,138 (up from 409,061)
• Deaths: 5,160 – 157 of which are "probable*" (up from 5,147)
• Active cases: 18,890 (down from 20,142)
• Patients no longer requiring isolation: 391,248 (up from 388,919)

* 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.