(FOX 9) - The Minnesota Department of Health reported 7,228 new cases of COVID-19 Thursday, the most that have been reported in a single day so far in this pandemic.
The 7,228 newly reported cases smashes the previous daily record of 5,924 cases set on Sunday. The state has seen a 135% increase in cases over the last two weeks, according to NBC News’s COVID-19 tracker.
There have been over 200,000 cases of COVID-19 in Minnesota to date. More than 79% of those cases have recovered to the point where they no longer need to be isolated.
The record-breaking number of cases reported Wednesday were on a record high volume of tests. There were 48,513 tests completed in a 24-hour period—a positivity rate of 14.9%.
Minnesota’s 7-day moving average rate of positive tests is up to 14.3%, according to Johns Hopkins University’s COVID-19 Tracking Project. The World Health Organization says the rate of positive tests provides insights into whether a community is conducting enough testing to find cases. A high positivity rate suggests a community be testing the sickest patients and possibly missing milder or asymptomatic cases.
MDH also reported 39 more deaths attributed to COVID-19 Thursday—the second most deaths reported in a single day after the 56 deaths reported Wednesday. Fourteen of the newly reported deaths were in the Twin Cities metro while the rest were in Greater Minnesota.
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Minnesota reports record-breaking 56 COVID-19 deaths Wednesday
The Minnesota Department of Health reported a record-breaking 56 deaths attributed to COVID-19 Wednesday—the most number of deaths reported in a single-day since the pandemic began.
The deaths included a Stearns County resident in their late 30s and a Dakota County resident in their early 40s. The remainder of the deaths were people 60 years old or older.
Twenty-three of people who died were residents of long-term care or assisted living facilities, one lived in a group or behavioral health home and one was a person experiencing homelessness.
To date, 2,793 people in Minnesota have died from COVID-19.