Here is Minnesota's COVID update for Sunday, January 17

Sunday's COVID update from the Minnesota Department of Health includes 40 new deaths and more than 1,300 new cases.

The newly reported deaths bring the state's total to 5,927 over the course of the pandemic, of which (63.8%) 3,779 were residents of long-term care, including 24 of the 40 reported Sunday.

Minnesota last Saturday confirmed the first five cases of the U.K.-based mutant variant of COVID-19, with residents in four Twin Cities counties testing positive for the B.1.1.7. variant after falling ill between Dec. 16-31. A health department spokesperson told BMTN Thursday that no new cases of the variant have been confirmed. 

Meanwhile, the state reported that, through Jan. 14, 184,943 people have received at least 1 dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, while 35,800 people have completed both doses of vaccine that are required for the vaccines' full effect.

The health department has launched a public dashboard to track vaccine distribution throughout Minnesota, and you can view it here.

Hospitalizations

Hospitalization data is not updated at weekends.

Through Jan. 14, the number of people with COVID-19 hospitalized in Minnesota was 612, which is the lowest number of COVID admissions reported since Oct. 25 (584).

Of those hospitalized, 125 (up from 131 the day before) were in intensive care, and 487 (down from 514) were receiving non-ICU treatment.

Statewide, there were 148 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 1,364 positive results in Sunday's update were from a total of 31,567 completed tests, creating a daily test positivity rate of 4.32%.

According to Johns Hopkins University, Minnesota's test positivity rate over the past seven days is 5.30%.

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: 6,152,636 (up from 6,121,001)
• People tested: 3,145,270 (up from 3,134,557)
• Positive cases: 446,380 (up from 445,047)
• Deaths: 5,927 – 217 of which are "probable*" (up from 5,887)
• Patients no longer requiring isolation: 427,468 (up from 425,253)

* 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.