Greta Kaul is MinnPost’s data reporter. She can be reached at gkaul@minnpost.com.
Gov. Tim Walz’s administration said data showed some vaccinators were lagging in getting vaccinations administered, including some chain pharmacies under federal contract to administer COVID-19 vaccinations to long-term care facilities.
And it doesn’t mean that vaccine is just sitting around or going to waste.
The Minnesota Department of Health also reported 1,224 new cases of COVID-19 Wednesday.
The nine pilot sites will provide COVID-19 vaccinations to Minnesotans who are 65 or older, pre-K through 12th grade school and child care workers.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz called this “the most egregious thing” the federal government has yet done in what he called a botched pandemic response.
The announcement did not signal the beginning of mass vaccination for Minnesotans in that age group, though, and was limited to extra vaccine doses providers may have on hand.
Minnesotans may have noticed friends and relatives in other states are already getting shots, while eligibility is still limited to a small group of people in the North Star state.
Democratic members of the state’s congressional delegation will now have far more power, especially Sen. Amy Klobuchar.
The new strain, first identified in the UK, is much more easily transmitted from one person to another than other strains of the disease.
Vaccines alter the calculation of risk, but don’t eliminate it.
Hours after the Capitol was evacuated, lawmakers voted to certify Joe Biden as the winner of the 2020 presidential election, with Sen. Amy Klobuchar announcing the final results on the Senate floor.
The most recent seven-day positivity rate, which lags by a week, is 6.5 percent, up slightly from a recent low of 4.7 percent.
When Gov. Tim Walz announced a “pause” in November closing service at bars and restaurants, some business owners said they were being unfairly targeted. What do the data say?
The seven-day positivity average, which lags by a week, is 6.3 percent, up from 4.7 percent days earlier.
MDH also reported 1,997 new cases on Wednesday, based on 25,729 tests.
Minnesota’s first confirmed case of COVID-19 was announced on March 6. A lot happened in the ensuing 10 months.
The high death toll comes even as the daily case rates continue to decline.
Some years, Minnesota hospitals are nearly filled up with flu patients. With the system already near capacity with COVID-19 patients, a severe flu season could have been disastrous.
The Health Department also reported a drop in Minnesota’s seven-day case positivity rate, to 8.9 percent.
This is the first time the seven-day average case positivity ratio has dropped below 10 percent since October.
