Minnesota COVID positive test rates reach all-time high | Brainerd Dispatch

Now at, 15.6%, Minnesota has as many positive tests each week on average as it did when the coronavirus first struck the state in spring 2020 — nearly a year before the large-scale rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine. Friday’s average is from Dec. 30, as the state has a week delay on weekly rolling average figures.

January’s surge in cases comes as the omicron variant of COVID-19 has grown to dominate infections in the state. Based on genomic sequencing of select COVID-19 tests, MDH in mid-December said the variant had overtaken the delta variant in the state.

Omicron first appeared in Minnesota in early December, within a week of the World Health Organization designating the strain a variant of concern. While estimates vary, omicron is generally thought to be much more infectious but less deadly than previous strains.

RELATED:

Hospitalizations remained level in Friday’s figures though had been rising since late December and continued to strain hospitals across the state. At 98% full, adult intensive care unit beds remained in short supply, though state data show an encouraging sign: the number of hospital admissions per 100,000 has been on the decline from nearly 25 in early December to 15 at the end of the same month.

Still, omicron poses a test for the state’s hospitals. The Minnesota Hospital Association on Friday released a statement urging people to seek testing for COVID-19 in settings other than emergency departments. The association said a surge of people seeking tests has driven up wait times in ERs across the state.

The care capacity throughout all of Minnesota is severely limited — ICUs are full, emergency departments are full, medical-surgical units are full, hallways are full, and surgeries are being canceled,” the statement said. “To continue to serve the high volume of patients that need care for strokes, heart attacks, emergency surgeries, motor vehicle accidents, and COVID-19, we need your help now.”

More information on testing can be found on the state health department website.

It’s yet to be seen whether omicron could threaten to overwhelm health care resources. While the variant is less deadly than those before it, its infectiousness could drive up the overall number of hospitalizations because of the sheer number of people it could infect.

Public health observers such as University of Minnesota infectious disease expert Michael Osterholm predict a wave of omicron cases to last around one month.

Statewide case rates

• NEW CASES: 6,936

• SEVEN-DAY, ROLLING AVERAGE OF NEW CASES PER 100,000 PEOPLE: 96.6 (as of 12/30)

• TOTAL CASES, INCLUDING REINFECTIONS: 1,056,236

• TOTAL REINFECTIONS: 17,505

• SEVEN-DAY, ROLLING AVERAGE TEST POSITIVITY RATE: 15.6% (as of 12/29)

Hospitalizations, deaths

• ACTIVE HOSPITALIZATIONS: 1,467

• TOTAL HOSPITALIZATIONS: 51,557

• DEATHS, NEWLY REPORTED: 62

• TOTAL DEATHS: 10,733

Vaccinations

• FIRST DOSE ADMINISTERED: 3,771,106 or 72.4% of ages 5 and up

• COMPLETED SERIES (2 doses): 3,536,755 or 67.9% of ages 5 and up

• BOOSTER DOSES ADMINISTERED: 1,790,296