Minnesota Confirms 1,700+ COVID Cases, 10 Deaths Friday

(KNSI) – The state of Minnesota sees 1,708 new COVID-19 cases Friday and 10 more deaths due to the virus.

Friday’s reported deaths include one Stearns County resident who was in their 90s. Across the five-county St. Cloud area, 137 people have tested positive for COVID within the past day.

Benton: 14
Morrison: 8
Sherburne: 28
Stearns: 49
Wright: 38

The state processed 30,618 COVID tests on Thursday — 5.6 percent of those tests came back positive.

The latest figures from the Minnesota Department of Health show that 477 Minnesotans are hospitalized due to COVID, with 125 of those patients in the ICU.

Meanwhile, more Minnesotans are getting vaccinated against COVID-19. Between August 8th and 18th, nearly 85,000 vaccine doses were administered to state residents 12 and older.

Per the MDH’s most recent update on breakthrough cases, 7,171 fully vaccinated Minnesotans have tested positive for COVID since the start of 2021. Those cases represent only 0.24 percent of the fully vaccinated population, whereas all-time COVID cases in Minnesota total 633,556. That means about 11 out of every 100 Minnesotans have tested positive for COVID since March 2020.

Since the start of the pandemic, 34,372 people have needed to be hospitalized, and 7,760 Minnesotans have died.

___