St. Cloud Area Sees 44 New COVID-19 Cases as Vaccinations Continue

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(KNSI) – The Minnesota Department of Health reports 561 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday. One newly reported death from the novel coronavirus was a Ramsey County resident in their 80s.

In the St. Cloud area, there are 44 new cases: four in Benton County, three in Morrison County, eight in Sherburne County, 20 in Stearns County and nine in Wright County.

Out of 17,666 COVID-19 tests processed by the state on Sunday, 3.2 percent were positive.

As of Saturday, 759,747 Minnesotans have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, representing 13.7 percent of the state’s population. Of that number, 356,911 people (or 6.4 percent of the population) have gotten their second dose.

Near the end of last week, shipping issues caused by widespread snowstorms delayed the arrival of some COVID-19 vaccine doses for Minnesota, forcing providers to cancel and reschedule appointments. Minnesota infectious disease director Kris Ehresmann said Monday that the state should be back to normal operations within the next week.

“All the orders for this week … are expected to be shipped and arrive to Minnesota sites between Wednesday the 24th and Friday the 26th,” Ehresmann said of Moderna’s vaccines. “A few remaining backlogged Pfizer vaccine orders for last week are expected to arrive today.”

With more Minnesotans getting vaccinated by the day, Ehresmann said the Minnesota Department of Health is still concerned about new variants of the coronavirus that are believed to be more transmissible.

“We continue to see clusters of cases connected with community settings, such as restaurants, bars and gyms,” Ehresmann said, adding that MDH identified 23 COVID-19 outbreaks associated with gyms and fitness centers in January.

“We still need to keep up our guard,” she said.