Latest on COVID-19 in MN: More vaccinations, but not enough to meet demand

Minnesota enters the last week of January with nearly a quarter-million residents having received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

But that’s only about 4.5 percent of the population — and the pace of vaccinations, while slowly trending upward in recent days, remains far below demand.

Figuring out a way to ramp up vaccinations is a priority for state health officials in the final days of January. While the seven-day average numbers of new COVID cases, hospital admissions and deaths each day in Minnesota continue to fall, there’s still a grim toll — an average of 24 COVID-19 deaths a day in the state over the past week.

Here are Minnesota’s current COVID-19 statistics:

• 6,095 deaths (32 new)

• 454,989 positive cases (1,196 new), 437,827 off isolation (96 percent)

• 6.4 million tests, 3.2 million people tested (about 56 percent of the population)

• 4.1 percent seven-day positive test rate (officials find 5 percent or more concerning)

• 4.5 percent of Minnesotans have at least one vaccine dose (as of Jan. 21)

Sunday’s update showed 247,415 Minnesotans have received at least one vaccine shot. More than 63,000 people have received both shots to complete their vaccination.

In total, 311,600 vaccine shots have been administered in the state as of the latest update. Sunday marked the second consecutive day that the state reported more than 20,000 vaccine doses administered — the first time that’s happened.

State officials last week launched a pilot program opening COVID-19 vaccinations to all people 65 and older, as well as educators and child care workers.

The state allocated 12,000 doses, but the demand far exceeded that. The online and phone systems to book a spot in the pilot program quickly became overwhelmed.

A new round of vaccination appointments is expected to become available on Tuesday, and the state has said it’s working to improve the sign-up system. But no matter how much better the online system works, the program still is facing a limited supply of vaccine doses that isn’t yet enough to meet the demand.

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 86,000 since the pandemic began, including more than 45,000 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 continue to trend 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.

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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.