MinnPost provides updates on coronavirus in Minnesota Sunday through Friday. The information is published following a press phone call with members of the Walz administration or after the release of daily COVID-19 figures by the Minnesota Department of Health.
Here are the latest updates from December 13, 2020:
Eighty-five more Minnesotans have died of COVID-19, the Minnesota Department of Health said Sunday, for a total of 4,444.
Of the people whose deaths were announced Sunday, 20 were in their 90s, 26 were in their 80s, 29 were in their 70s, seven were in their 60s and three were in their 50s. Forty-nine of the 85 people whose deaths announced Sunday were residents of long-term care facilities.
The state has reported 851 deaths so far in December, an average of roughly 65 deaths per day, putting Minnesota on pace to smash its single-month record for COVID-19 fatalities. The most deaths recorded in one month of the pandemic in Minnesota was 1,136 in November.
Thirty-three of the 85 deaths reported Sunday were among residents of the seven-county Twin Cities metro area. Fifty-two were among residents of Greater Minnesota, including five deaths in St. Louis County and five deaths in Wright County.
MDH also said Sunday there have been 378,823 total cases of COVID-19 in Minnesota. That number is up 3,425 from the total announced on Saturday and is based on 48,098 new tests. You can find the seven-day positive case average here.
While positivity rates have dropped somewhat lately, hospitalizations and deaths remain high because they were caused by even higher levels of COVID-19 spread across the state.
On Saturday, MDH reported 67 deaths and an increase of 4,430 new cases over Friday’s count. The cases came on 50,366 tests.
The most recent data available show 343 Minnesotans are hospitalized in intensive care with COVID-19, and 1,118 are in the hospital with COVID-19 not in intensive care. You can find more information about Minnesota’s current ICU usage and capacity here.
More information on cases can be found here.
Today on MinnPost
- Asking yourself how long it’s been since this all started? Us too.
- As always, a look at the numbers on the MinnPost COVID-19 dashboard.
Around the web
- Desperate at ‘death ridge’: How a Minnesota nursing home fell into a COVID-19 black hole. By the Star Tribune.
- COVID-19 vaccine shipments begin in historic U.S. effort, report the Associated Press.
- FiveThirtyEight on why a big bloc of Americans is wary of the COVID-19 vaccine — even as experts hope to see widespread immunization.
MDH’s coronavirus website: https://www.health.state.mn.us/diseases/coronavirus/index.html
MDH’s phone line for COVID-19 questions, Mon.-Fri. 9 a.m. to 4 p.m: 651-297-1304
One has to wonder to what degree the LTC facilities in Greater MN are actually taking the pandemic seriously, given that the “conservative” movement (and its wholly-owned Repub party) that holds sway in those parts has done everything it can to minimize the danger of Covid-19, to the crackpot extreme of declaring the pandemic a “hoax”. Just like global warming! (as the state of MN experiences another brown December, with daily temps consistently above those of the now-wrecked natural climate.)
It is worth considering that the LTC industry may bear a lot of the blame, due to lax compliance, poor training of staff, or cost-cutting measures that impede the ability to respond to a health crisis. Given that global pandemics are likely to happen again, an investigation of this lucrative industry would be in order.
I live up near Moorhead, the blue dot in the redneck 7th district, and the care facility’s around here have been locked down tight since March….some deaths, but not as dire as I thought it would be. other counties, who knows, but most around here are taking this pandemic seriously.