Omicron dominant as Minnesota approaches millionth COVID case | Brainerd Dispatch

As of Wednesday, Dec. 22, a total of 65 cases of omicron had been confirmed in 12 counties across Minnesota, MDH spokesman Doug Schulz said in a statement. However, he added there is a significant lag in that figure — the most recent specimen confirmed to be omicron was from Dec. 11.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention earlier this week announced omicron had grown to dominate U.S. COVID-19 cases. With a sudden spike in Minnesota this past week, officials say it’s likely overtaking the delta variant, a shift that comes as the state nears its millionth case of COVID-19.

“We suspect that Omicron has been spreading rapidly in the state since early December, with cases likely doubling in a matter of days,” Schulz said in a statement. “Based on laboratory data, we estimate it is now the dominant strain in Minnesota.”

Minnesota confirmed the second case of the omicron variant in the U.S. on Dec. 2 in a Hennepin County man who had traveled to an anime convention in New York City. Officials credit the state’s strong infectious disease surveillance system with detecting the variant early on. The process of identifying a variant involves fully mapping a virus’ genome, a process that can take days.

Omicron’s rise comes after the highly infectious delta variant dominated cases worldwide in the second half of 2021. The World Health Organization designated omicron a “variant of concern” in late November, citing mutations that could potentially make the virus better at spreading and infecting the vaccinated.

It took less than a month after the first U.S. omicron case for the strain to become dominant. The CDC on Monday said 73% of cases in the country were omicron variant.

Gov. Tim Walz said Minnesotans should seek out tests before celebrating the holidays and encouraged those who’ve not yet been vaccinated against the illness to get a shot or a booster. He said he wasn’t considering a statewide mask requirement at this time as he didn’t think it would be as effective as it was in 2020.

“We don’t think at this point in time that a state mask mandate would have the impact we’re looking for as much as we’re getting out of the boosters,” he said, noting an increase in Minnesotans getting vaccines and boosters. “I’d make that plug to folks, it’s not too late, get that booster going into this holiday week.”

Walz, who earlier this week announced his family was infected with COVID-19, said his son Gus was almost over his symptoms and that he and first lady Gwen Walz were able to manage their mild symptoms with Advil. The governor and his family have been in isolation at the governor’s residence in St. Paul and said they would continue working remotely until they reach the 10-day mark of quarantine and no longer test positive for COVID-19.

“I have kind of heard this for the last week to 10 days of there’s kind of a bad cold going around, that’s probably omicron, just so folks know, that’s the symptoms I’m experiencing,” Walz said during an unrelated video roundtable talk. “If you’ve been vaccinated and boosted and you’re able to have access to testing like we were right away, we weren’t spreading it around then, we were isolating ourselves and now just kind of recuperating.

Following are the Minnesota Department of Health COVID-19 case rates, deaths, hospitalizations and vaccinations as of Wednesday Because all data is preliminary, some numbers and totals may change from one day to the next.

Statewide case rates

• NEW CASES: 2,807

• SEVEN-DAY, ROLLING AVERAGE OF NEW CASES PER 100,000 PEOPLE: 54.2 (as of 12/14)

• TOTAL CASES, INCLUDING REINFECTIONS: 992,851

• TOTAL REINFECTIONS: 12,451

• SEVEN-DAY, ROLLING AVERAGE TEST POSITIVITY RATE: 9% (as of 12/14)

Hospitalizations, deaths

• ACTIVE HOSPITALIZATIONS: 1,432

• TOTAL HOSPITALIZATIONS: 49,812

• DEATHS, NEWLY REPORTED: 57

• TOTAL DEATHS: 10,254

Vaccinations

• FIRST DOSE ADMINISTERED: 3,728,896 or 71.5% of ages 5 and up

• COMPLETED SERIES (2 doses): 3,494,441 or 67% of ages 5 and up

• BOOSTER DOSES ADMINISTERED: 1,583,367

Follow Alex Derosier on Twitter @xanderosier or email [email protected]. Dana Ferguson contributed to this report.