MINNEAPOLIS (KELO.com) — Minnesota reported 3,570 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 22 deaths Tuesday, according to the Minnesota Department of Health.
The state’s daily case total is among the lowest reported since early November, but the drop new cases is explained by a decline in the number of COVID-19 tests. The Tuesday report includes nearly 22,000 completed COVID-19 tests, the lowest volume since Nov. 2.
Minnesota’s positivity rate is still above 10%, double the rate that experts say indicates controlled spread of COVID-19. More than 322,300 Minnesotans have tested positive for COVID-19, and 3,615 have died.
The surge in new cases and hospitalizations that swept the state this month seems to have subsided slightly in recent days. But Minnesotans shouldn’t read much into those few days of data, officials said during a briefing Monday – Minnesota is still at a critical point in the pandemic.
“We really need to see sustained reductions in case growth and positivity rates to consider whether the tide is really turning or not,” said Minnesota Department of Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm. “We are still at a very serious point in the pandemic, and a very pivotal point for where things go from here.”
Hospitals are at more than 96% capacity in the metro area, with 25 ICU beds available and 100 non-ICU beds available. More than 1,800 people are hospitalized with COVID-19 statewide.
Minnesota is reporting the nation’s fifth-highest number of new cases per capita, far outpacing current case growth in previous hotspots like New York and Arizona.
“We are a hotspot,” Malcolm said. “Which is, again, why we’ve all been asked to be part of the solution here, by making some temporary sacrifices.”
(Rilyn Eischens with the Minnesota Reformer contributed this report. The story first appeared here in the MR.)
