State COVID-19 briefing: Health officials discuss decreasing case count, vaccine distribution

During the state’s regular COVID-19 briefing Wednesday, officials with the Minnesota Department of Health discussed decreasing case counts and vaccine distribution.

"We’re certainly happy to be ending this difficult 2020 with decreasing case counts in the last several weeks," MDH Commissioner Jan Malcolm said.

While cases are still at high levels, Malcolm said case growth is down 68%. Hospital capacity is also about half of where it was at in November.

The commissioner did note that the state has seen lower testing numbers during the month of December than it did in the lead up to Thanksgiving.

Follow KSTP’s complete COVID-19 coverage

Malcolm encouraged that Minnesotans take advantage of the testing capacity and get tested when needed.

MDH Infectious Disease Director Kris Ehresmann also took time to discuss vaccine distribution in state.

As of Wednesday, there have been a total of 38,284 COVID-19 vaccinations administered in Minnesota, according to MDH.

According to vaccine distribution data from MDH, there have been 169,650 doses of the Pfizer vaccine allocated from the CDC and distributed to providers as of Wednesday. Additionally, there have been 127,700 doses of the Moderna vaccine allocated from the CDC and distributed to providers as of Wednesday. According to MDH, 277 provider sites have received vaccine doses, as of Wednesday.

According to Ehresmann, doses are allocated by the federal governments and are based on the state’s population. She added because of this, the state is not able to request additional doses.

"There are limited numbers of doses everywhere, so we are taking what comes to us and getting it to its final destination as quickly as possible," Ehresmann said. "I just want to let you know receiving, preparing and administering vaccines takes time."

Ehresmann said vaccinations are currently happening in closed settings like hospitals and long-term care facilities.

Guidance for Phase 1B of vaccinations – which covers people who are over the age of 75 and frontline workers – will be available the week of Jan. 18, Ehresmann said.

Along with the vaccine, the state has also received other tools to fight COVID-19.

According to Dr. Ruth Lynfield, the state has received therapeutics for monoclonal antibody therapy, which is given with 10 days of symptom onset to fight the virus.

She said both hospitals and long-term care centers have received doses.

For more information regarding additional therapeutics, click here.