MDH nears daily testing goal with 594 new cases reported on Friday

Friday, the Minnesota Department of Health reported 594 new COVID-19 cases and 28 new deaths, moving the state’s totals to 5,730 cases and 371 deaths. Of the 28 deaths reported today, 24 were from long-term care facilities. So far, nearly 80 percent of Minnesota’s 371 COVID-19 deaths have come from long-term care.

In total, 7.7% of the tests are positive in the state and 6.5% of positive cases have been fatal.

The department stated, as of Friday, it has completed 12,592 tests and private labs have completed 62,237 tests, totaling up to 74,829 for the state. Gov. Tim Walz had stated his goal was to test 5,000 people a day and that goal is getting closer, with 4,553 patients tested in the latest report.

Of the total, 1,096 cases (1.5%) have required hospitalization, with 369 currently in the hospital and 118 in an Intensive Care Unit.

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According to MDH, patients no longer needing isolation represents individuals with confirmed COVID-19 who no longer need to self-isolate, including those who have died.

According to the Johns Hopkins Center for Systems Science and Engineering, the virus has infected about 3.2 million people worldwide and killed about 234,000.

More than one million people have recovered worldwide as of Friday.