Thursday's COVID update from the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) includes 1,410 new cases and 17 new deaths.

The newly reported deaths bring the state's total to 6,251 over the course of the pandemic. Of those deaths, (63.2%) 3,955were residents of long-term care, including 9 of the 17 reported Thursday.

Through Feb. 2, the state reported that 475,200 people have received at least 1 dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine while 128,694 people have completed both doses of vaccine that are required for the vaccines' full effect.

MDH has a public dashboard to track vaccine progress in Minnesota, and you can view it here.

Two new variants of the coronavirus have been confirmed in Minnesota, including what was the first known case of the Brazil P.1 variant in the United States. That case involves a Minnesotan who recently traveled to Brazil. There are 8 confirmed cases of the B.1.1.7 variant. Both new strains are believed to be more transmissible.

Hospitalizations

Through Feb. 3, the number of people with COVID-19 hospitalized in Minnesota was 369. Of those hospitalized, 82 were in intensive care, and 287 were receiving non-ICU treatment.

Statewide, there were 145 staffed ICU beds available. During the November surge the state had fewer than 100 staffed ICU beds available. The number of available beds is dependent on the number of available staff, so the totals are constantly changing.

Testing and positivity rates

The 1,410 positive results in Thursday's update were from a total of 50,330 completed tests, creating a daily test positivity rate of 2.8%.

According to Johns Hopkins University, Minnesota's test positivity rate over the past seven days is 3.48%, making it one of the lowest rates in the country.

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.

Coronavirus in Minnesota by the numbers

• Total tests: 6,679,181 (up from  6,628,961)
• People tested: 3,288,834 (up from 3,276,111)
• People with at least 1 vaccine shot: 475,200 as of Feb. 2 (up from 458,651)
• People with 2 vaccine shots:   128,694 as of Feb. 2 (up from 122,597)
• Positive cases: 465,176 (up from 463,766)
• Deaths: 6,251 – 254 of which are "probable*" (up from 6,234)
• Patients no longer requiring isolation: 450,383 (up from 449,707)

* 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.