Here is Minnesota's COVID-19 update for Tuesday, November 3
A new daily record for number of new COVID-19 cases was set in Tuesday's report from the Minnesota Department of Health as more than 3,400 people have tested positive, and the numbers are at a record level despite fewer than 13,000 total tests being completed in the reporting period.
The update includes 15 more deaths, seven of whom were residents of long-term care facilities. Long-term care deaths have accounted for 1,741 of the state's 2,499 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.
There were 3,483 new cases of COVID-19 reported Tuesday, seven of which were removed for an official count of 3,476.
Testing and positivity rates
The MDH reported 12,632 diagnostic PCR tests and an additional 250 antigen tests for a total of 12,882 completed tests.
Those tests were from 7,007 people tested. People are often tested multiple times, so the more accurate reading for test positivity rate is based on the total number of people tested, which today's report is at 49.6%.
The positivity rate reported Tuesday, when total cases is divided by total tests, is 26.98%. Health experts say positivity rates need to be below the 5% mark to control the spread of the virus.
Hospitalizations
Through 4 p.m. Monday, the cutoff time for the data published Tuesday by the health department, there were 197 people with COVID-19 in intensive care in Minnesota, and 655 people with the disease in non-ICU hospital care. That's a total of 862 hospitalized patients, which is up from 780 on Monday (Monday was initially reported at 774, but that preliminary number has been adjusted).
Here's how the total number of COVID-19 hospitalizations have increased since Oct. 26.
- Oct. 26 – 616 people (hospitalized at the time of the report)
- Oct. 27 – 658
- Oct. 28 – 680
- Oct. 29 – 694
- Oct. 30 – 738
- Oct. 31 – 772
- Nov. 1 – 790
- Nov. 2 – 780
- Nov. 3 – 862
Overall, the state's hospital capacity is not being overwhelmed statewide at the moment. According to the state's response and preparation dashboard, there is a maximum total of 1,909 ICU beds, of which 1,074 are currently occupied.
There remain more than 3,100 of 9,676 non-ICU beds available.
Coronavirus in Minnesota by the numbers
- Total tests: 2,916,431 (up from 2,905,225)
- People tested: 1,899,230 (up from 1,892,223)
- Positive cases: 157,096 (up from 153,620)
- Deaths: 2,499 – 21 of which are "probable*" (up from 2,484)
- Patients no longer requiring isolation: 134,227 (up from 134,125)
* 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.
