MDH COVID-19 briefing: Data improving but still in critical stage, vaccine arrives in Minnesota

Monday, Minnesota health officials provided the latest update on the state’s COVID-19 situation.

Minnesota Department of Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm and Infectious Disease Director Kris Ehresmann discussed the state’s data trends and noted that Minnesota is starting to do better but is still in a critical stage.

Ehresmann called it a big weekend and an exciting day, Monday, with the first COVID-19 vaccine being approved and then the first doses arriving in Minnesota. She called it a "small but important" milestone but noted that the vaccine will be in very limited supply for several weeks and possibly months so Minnesotans can’t get lax with mask-wearing and social distancing.

Malcolm said numbers have been slightly better recently but noted that rates are still very high, even if slightly down from where they were a few weeks ago. She compared it to having 20 days of below-zero temperatures and then one slightly above freezing, noting that one warmer day would feel nice even though it’s still very cold because below-zero temperatures would’ve started to feel normal.

With that in mind, Malcolm and Ehresmann urged Minnesotans to not get complacent and to stay vigilant in slowing the spread of COVID-19 to keep the recent trend going in the right direction.

KSTP’s complete COVID-19 coverage

As for those better recent numbers, Malcolm credited Minnesotans’ efforts in slowing the spread. However, Malcolm said Minnesota is still in a "pretty precarious state" overall.

She noted:

• Minnesota is expected to surpass 400,000 cases before Christmas.
• It took Minnesota 30 weeks to reach the first 100,000 cases, six weeks to reach 200,000 cases and just 16 days to reach 300,000 cases.
• The state’s first 1,000 deaths took 12 weeks, it took another 17 weeks to reach 2,000 deaths, 7.5 weeks to reach 3,000 deaths and just 20 days to surpass 4,000 deaths.
• The state’s positivity rate is still hovering around 12-13%.

1st doses of COVID-19 vaccine arrive in Minnesota

While Minnesotans can’t get too lax, Monday was also a day for excitement and hope as the first shipments of a vaccine arrived.

Ehresmann said the state is still expected to receive 183,000 total doses of COVID-19 vaccines, with that number split unevenly between Pfizer and Moderna, assuming Moderna is approved this week. She added that the state could also get more Pfizer doses but that’s not yet set in stone.

Ehresmann was asked why the state isn’t starting vaccinations until next week when some states began Monday. She said MDH was still awaiting some guidance from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) and the Centers for Disease Control, which was just released Sunday, so MDH had to go over the guidance to give personnel the necessary training before a vaccine can be administered. Ehresmann added that some states held ceremonial first vaccinations on Monday but the bulk of vaccinations for all states won’t begin until next week.

18 new COVID-19 deaths, 3,026 new cases reported by MDH