Jan. 27 update on COVID-19 in MN: Trends stay positive; vaccination pace quickens
Updated: 11:44 a.m.
Minnesota’s COVID-19 picture continues to brighten as the state closes out January, with caseloads and hospitalizations still trending in the right direction — and the pace of vaccinations quickening after a flat start.
The Health Department on Wednesday reported another 851 confirmed or probable cases of the disease — along with 18 more deaths.
Active, known COVID-19 case counts fell to 9,453, the lowest since early October and down dramatically from late November, when they hovered around 50,000. Overall, conditions have improved significantly since the late November, early December surge.
The number of Minnesotans hospitalized with COVID-19 dropped to 477, with 97 needing intensive care, as of Monday. That ICU count — a closely watched metric — is at its lowest point in four months.
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Wednesday’s report put the state at 456,490 cases in the pandemic. Of those, about 97 percent of people have recovered to the point they no longer need to be isolated.
The newly reported deaths raised Minnesota’s toll to 6,124. Among those who’ve died, about 63 percent had been living in long-term care or assisted living facilities; most had underlying health problems.
Cases spread across age groups, regions
People in their 20s still make up the age bracket with the state’s largest number of confirmed cases — more than 87,000 since the pandemic began, including nearly 46,000 among people ages 20 to 24.
The number of high school-age youth confirmed with the disease has also grown, with more than 35,000 total cases among those ages 15 to 19 since the pandemic began.
Although less likely to feel the worst effects of the disease and end up hospitalized, experts worry youth and young adults will spread it to older relatives and members of other vulnerable populations.
It’s of particular concern because people can have the coronavirus and spread COVID-19 when they don’t have symptoms.
Caseloads are trending down across all regions of the state following a late December, early January blip.
Hot spots continue to pop up in rural counties relative to their population.
Caseloads still heaviest among people of color
In Minnesota and across the country, COVID-19 has hit communities of color disproportionately hard in both cases and deaths. That’s been especially true for Minnesotans of Hispanic descent for much of the pandemic.
Even as new case counts ease from their late November, early December peaks, the data shows people of color continue to be hit hardest.
Distrust of the government, together with deeply rooted health and economic disparities, have hampered efforts to boost testing among communities of color, officials say, especially among unauthorized immigrants who fear their personal information may be used to deport them.
Similar trends have been seen among Minnesota’s Indigenous residents. Counts among Indigenous people jumped in October relative to population.
Vaccinations accelerate
State leaders have been challenged early-on to get COVID-19 vaccine shots into arms quickly, and they’ve taken criticism that the process has been too slow. But the latest numbers show the upswing in vaccinations may finally be underway.
More than 300,000 Minnesotans received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine as of Monday, about 5.5 percent of the state’s population.
The seven-day rolling average for new vaccinations topped 19,000, the highest point since vaccinations started in late December, and nearly double where that figure stood a week ago.
Demand, however, continues to far outpace supply. Officials on Wednesday said that 226,244 people had registered for a chance to get one of the roughly 8,000 doses earmarked this week for people 65 and older.
The bulk of Minnesotans in that older age group will likely get their vaccinations eventually through their local clinics or pharmacies, rather than through the current, limited pilot project, Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm said Tuesday.
Some 1,400 pharmacies, clinics and other health care providers around the state have signed up to vaccinate Minnesotans as more vaccine becomes available. That's the way most Minnesotans will receive their doses, "but there's not much supply today," she added.
As they receive doses, Minnesota clinics will be reaching out to their clients, so "if you haven't heard from you clinic that they have a supply ... it's not likely that they have vaccine, so best not to flood them with calls but to wait for information," Malcolm said.
On Tuesday, the Biden administration confirmed it’s would buy an additional 200 million doses of vaccines with the goal of having enough vaccine supply for most of the U.S. population by the end of the summer.
Minnesota is expected to receive nearly 11,000 additional doses each week under the new allocation, according to the Walz administration.
Top headlines
Minnesota starts drawing names in COVID vaccine lottery for 65 and older: More than 226,000 people signed up online and by phone; about 8,000 doses are available. People 65 and older whose names are drawn will be able to make an appointment for their first dose of the two-dose COVID-19 vaccine at one of nine vaccination sites across the state.
At some of MN's large hospital systems, teleworkers, volunteers, construction workers have COVID vaccine advantage: State officials say Minnesota’s medical institutions have taken a liberal view of who should be in the early rounds of vaccination. And it’s come at the cost of making sure shots get to the people who need them most.
Expired driver's licenses, IDs should be renewed soon, Minnesota officials say: A COVID-19-related extension for Minnesota driver's license renewals is ending soon. Minnesota law does not allow for additional extensions, so people whose licenses would have expired between March 13 of last year and the end of this February should plan to renew soon, according to the Department of Public Safety.
In Minnesota, a growing interest in reviving the local butcher shop amid pandemic: Temporary food supply disruptions prompted by the coronavirus pandemic have led more consumers to look for direct connections with farmers. It’s put a spotlight on a problem that's been developing for years in Minnesota: a shortage the of small meat processing operations that are a key link between farmers and consumers. There’s growing interest in reviving the local butcher shop.
COVID-19 in Minnesota
Data in these graphs are based on the Minnesota Department of Health's cumulative totals released at 11 a.m. daily. You can find more detailed statistics on COVID-19 at the Health Department website.