Minnesota reports single-digit COVID-19 deaths for 4 straight days, 1st time since mid-September

(FOX 9) - Minnesota health officials reported 456 new cases of COVID-19 and two additional deaths attributed to the coronavirus Tuesday.

Minnesota has now had four straight days of single-digit COVID-19 deaths, which has not happened since the middle of September, according to the latest state Department of Health data.

MDH is holding a 2 p.m. news conference with Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm and other state health officials to provide an update on Minnesota’s COVID-19 situation and vaccine rollout. You can listen to the news conference live at fox9.com/live.

The two people whose deaths were reported on Tuesday were both Twin Cities residents in their 70s. One lived in Ramsey County and the other in Anoka County.

To date, 6,380 Minnesotans have died from complications related to COVID-19.

Rural healthcare providers don’t want to be left behind in vaccine administration

Minnesota's rural healthcare providers are working to make sure they aren't left behind as the state works to administer the COVID-19 vaccine.

The 456 newly reported cases were out of 9,333 tests—a 4.9% positivity rate.

There have now been 474,621 COVID-19 cases confirmed in Minnesota since the first infection was reported in the state last March. Over 97% of the state’s cases have recovered to the point where the infected person no longer needs to be isolated from others.

ICU patients in at lowest point since early June

There are currently 315 people hospitalized with COVID-19 in Minnesota, 57 of whom are in the ICU. Fifty-seven is the lowest that number has been since MDH started tracking that metric in early June.

The previous low for that eight-month period was 58 on July 15. The number patients in the ICU with COVID-19 peaked at 399 on Dec. 1.

Over 35% of Minnesota seniors have 1st vaccine dose

At least 686,210 people in Minnesota have received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, or 12.3% of the state’s population and at least 240,027 people are fully vaccinated, or 4.3% of the state’s population, according to the latest data from the state Department of Health.

More than 307,000 Minnesota seniors have received at least one dose of the vaccine, which is 35.8% of the state’s age 65 and older population. MDH’s vaccination data is accurate as of Feb. 14 as reporting lags by a few days.