Minnesota COVID-19 Cases Continue Upward Trend; More Youth Getting Vaccinated Before School Year Starts

(KNSI) – The Minnesota Department of Health reports more than 7,000 new cases of COVID-19 this week as the state experiences its fourth wave of COVID infections amid the spread of the more transmissible Delta strain of the virus.

Between Monday and Friday, the MDH found 7,096 new positive cases, including 543 new cases reported out of Benton, Morrison, Sherburne, Stearns and Wright counties.

The MDH also confirms 35 more deaths due to the coronavirus, including two Wright County residents who were both in their 90s and one Stearns County resident in their 70s.

Over the past five days, 103,060 COVID tests were processed in Minnesota. With 7,096 new positive cases, that means, on average, 6.9 out of every 100 COVID tests submitted this week confirmed a positive COVID infection.

Minnesota’s COVID-19 Response Capacity Dashboard shows that 389 people are currently being treated in the state’s hospitals for COVID, with 110 of those patients receiving ICU care.

New cases have been on the rise nationally in recent weeks, however, new COVID-19 vaccinations in Minnesota have also been on the rise in response, with more than 3.2 million Minnesotans getting at least one shot so far. The MDH says it has marked a significant increase in first doses given to children in the past two weeks, with vaccinations up 107 percent among the state’s 12-to-15-year-olds and 112 percent among 16-and-17-year-olds.

“Student COVID-19 vaccinations have been on the rise since the state launched the ‘Vax to School’ campaign last month,” the MDH said in a Friday press release. “Two weeks into the campaign, more than 20,000 12-17-year-olds across the state have now received their first dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine and are on their way to being fully vaccinated by the beginning of the school year.”