(KNSI) – Minnesota is still in “precarious territory” with COVID-19, according to state health leaders, who pointed to a 60 percent growth in new cases in the past two weeks as one indication of concern.
Minnesota Department of Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm says she attributes the recent bump in new cases to more transmissible variants of the virus spreading in the state. Along with the increase in cases comes more hospitalizations.
“There are currently just under 700 people in Minnesota hospitals being treated with COVID-19,” Malcolm said Thursday. “Of those, 168 are in intensive care. This is up from 600 beds a week ago, and up over 60 percent just since the beginning of this month.”
While Malcolm says cases have not yet hit an exponential rate of growth as the state saw during its November 2020 spike, she says the state’s risk indicators show that new cases and hospitalizations will worsen, not flatten, in the coming weeks.
“All of the indicators and the metrics that we’re looking at are continuing to go in the wrong direction,” state infectious disease director Kris Ehresmann said.
On Thursday, the state reported 2,763 new positive cases of COVID-19 and 11 deaths.
The case growth comes as nearly 2.2 million Minnesotans are at least partially vaccinated against COVID-19. That’s almost half of the currently eligible population. Minnesota has one of the highest rates of vaccinations among its senior population, with 77 percent of adults 65 and older fully vaccinated, Malcolm says. With a greater portion of the state’s senior population more protected against COVID-19, people who are hospitalized for the disease are trending younger.
“What we’re seeing now is we’re seeing hospitalizations in younger individuals, in people under 60,” Ehresmann said.
With the Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccine on pause as the CDC and FDA investigate six serious blood clots that could be tied to the vaccine, MDH officials say it might slow down Minnesota’s vaccination progress a bit. But, Ehresmann said the indication from those federal authorities is that it’s more likely that refined guidance will be issued about the vaccine rather than taking it out of commission entirely.
Meanwhile, MDH is asking everyone who attended the Northland Youth Wrestling Association state tournament in Sioux Falls, South Dakota to get tested for COVID-19. Twenty-nine cases tied to 13 Minnesota schools have been identified so far, says Ehresmann. She added that school-aged children who are involved in sports and other extracurricular activities should get tested for COVID on a weekly basis.
“Certainly we will be working with schools to get the vaccine to those younger people who are eligible, the 16 and 17-year-olds,” Malcolm said, as youth 15 and younger are not yet eligible for any COVID vaccine. “That will be a priority in coming weeks. But that’s precisely the reason that we think testing is so important for your people.”
Among those 1,488,116 Minnesotans who are now fully vaccinated, there have been 561 “breakthrough” cases of COVID-19. Ehresmann says a breakthrough case is defined as a positive COVID-19 case in a person who received their final vaccine dose more than 14 days prior to getting infected.
“Of those, 66 have been hospitalized, nine have been admitted to the ICU and there were six deaths,” Ehresmann said. “Just to give you a perspective in terms of the deaths, the age range was 69 to 92.”
The state has incomplete data on if many of those breakthrough cases were caused by more transmissible strains of the virus. Out of 37 breakthrough virus specimens sampled, Ehresmann said 15 were found to be known variants, and the other 22 samples could not be sequenced.
Malcolm notes that the amount of viral activity in the state underscores the continued need for the face mask mandate.
“We do continue to feel that the mask mandate is a very important thing; it’s one of the most effective things we can do in addition to vaccination to … keep people protected and to help stop the spread,” Malcolm said.
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