Minnesota’s latest spike of coronavirus cases continues to slowly decline, but rates of new infections and hospitalizations remain above state health officials’ high-risk threshold.
The rate of new cases has trended downward, albeit slowly, for more than a month with the exception of a brief uptick at the beginning of June. That blip was likely caused by delays in reporting because of Memorial Day.
Nevertheless, the state’s seven-day average of more than 30 cases per 100,000 residents is three times the threshold the Minnesota Department of Health considers high-risk. That’s certainly an undercount because of the popularity of at-home tests, which are not reported to the state.
Health officials now consider wastewater data and hospitalization rates better measures of the current size of the outbreak. The prevalence of coronavirus genetic material in wastewater has slowly declined in recent weeks, according to data from the Metropolitan Council and the University of Minnesota.
Hospitalizations remain elevated, but are nowhere near as high as the last peak in January. There are 429 patients currently hospitalized including 31 in intensive care.
Eight more COVID-19 deaths were reported Wednesday, bringing the pandemic toll to 12,731. The current seven-day rolling average for newly reported deaths is roughly six per day.
Those whose deaths were reported Wednesday ranged in age from their late 50s to more than 100. Five lived in long-term care, two resided in private homes and one in a behavioral health facility.
Data from the health department and sewage systems across the state shows the omicron variant and its related strains of the coronavirus are now responsible for nearly all infections. Omicron is better at evading the protection provided by vaccines, although the shots still help prevent severe illness and death.
Protection wanes significantly five months after getting a shot and vaccine boosters are recommended for everyone who is eligible.
State data from the last 60 days shows people with boosters were four times less likely to be hospitalized and three times less likely to die from COVID-19 than those who are unvaccinated.
Minnesota has administered more than 10 million doses of vaccine including nearly 2.3 million boosters.
About 67 percent of Minnesota’s 5.7 million residents have completed their initial series of vaccinations. Only 44 percent of Minnesotans are up-to-date on their recommended boosters.
