Here is Minnesota's COVID-19 update for Tuesday, March 23

Hospitalizations continue to rise in Minnesota.

Author:
Joe Nelson
Publish date:
Mar 23, 2021

covid-19, coronavirus, ICU — U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Sara Eshleman via Flickr

Tuesday's COVID update from the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) includes 870 new cases and seven new deaths.

The seven new deaths, which includes a person aged 20-24 from Anoka County, increases the state's death toll to 6,789 over the course of the pandemic. Of the total deaths, 63% (4,248) were residents of long-term care.

Through Mar. 21, the state reported that 1,437,931 people have received at least 1 dose of the COVID-19 vaccine while 854,827 people have completed both doses of vaccine that are required for the vaccines' maximum effect.

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

Hospitalizations

Through Mar. 22, the number of people with COVID-19 hospitalized in Minnesota was 325, which is up from 318 reported Monday. There were 223 people with COVID-19 admitted to hospitals in Minnesota on Mar. 6, so the numbers are rising.

Of those hospitalized, 87 were in intensive care (up from 77 reported Monday) and 238 were receiving non-ICU treatment (down from 241).

Testing and positivity rates

The 870 positive results in Tuesday's update were from 13,314 completed tests, creating a daily test positivity rate of 6.53%

According to Johns Hopkins University, Minnesota's test positivity rate over the past seven days is 4.80%.

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: 7,981,041 (up from 7,968,369)
People tested: 3,617,073 (up from 3,614,368)
People with at least 1 vaccine shot: 1,437,931 (up from 1,430,349)
People who have completed. vaccine series: 854,827 (up from 850,829)
Positive cases: 507,231 (up from 506,376)
Deaths: 6,789 – 370 of which are "probable*" (no change from 6,782)
Patients no longer requiring isolation: 490,340 (up from 489,279)

* 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.