More than 1 million COVID-19 cases have been diagnosed in Minnesota since the pandemic began in the state nearly 22 months ago.
State health officials announced another 4,155 new cases Monday, December 27, 2021, bringing the total number of infections to 1,000,361.
It has taken just 27 days for the state to add 100,000 new cases and the previous 100,000 took 26 days before that, making this one of the fastest-growing surges since late last year.
In the past few weeks, however, case growth has slowed down, with the testing positivity rate at 8.6%, down from the most recent high of 11.5% in early December.
But with the highly contagious omicron variant accounting for over 50% of new cases, according to state health officials, Minnesota could see an escalation of infections similar to what is happening in many other states.
A total of 53 new deaths were announced Monday, including two people who were in their 30s. So far 10,359 Minnesotans have died of COVID-19 related complications.
COVID-19 hospitalizations have decreased, with 1,394 coronavirus patients as of Thursday. That’s down from the high of 1,678 on Dec. 9.
Still, along with hospitalizations from other diseases and trauma cases, 98% of adult ICU beds were full and 54 of the 68 hospitals with adult ICU beds were full.
More than 1.6 million booster doses have been administered in Minnesota, and 67.2%, or 3.5 million of the state’s population 5 and older, have been fully vaccinated.
For the week that ended last Tuesday, Minnesota recorded another 9,120 breakthrough cases, which include people who tested positive at least two weeks after their last shot. Altogether, 3.9% of fully vaccinated residents have had a breakthrough infection, while the number who have needed hospitalization or who have died is less than 1%.
Minnesota’s case count includes nearly 12,800 who have become infected with COVID-19 more than once. The total number of Minnesotans who have caught COVID-19 stands at 987,599.
