COVID-19 in Minnesota: 14 new deaths, 949 cases; 500,188 fully vaccinated

Thursday, the Minnesota Department of Health reported 14 new deaths from COVID-19 and 949 newly reported positive COVID-19 tests.

Meanwhile, there have been a total of 1.4 million COVID-19 vaccinations administered in Minnesota, with 794,594 receiving the Pfizer vaccine and 655,752 receiving the Moderna vaccine, according to MDH. Another 14 vaccinations are considered "unknown/missing" in the data. So far, 500,188 people have completed the two-shot vaccine series, according to MDH data.

Of the 949 newly reported cases, 132 of them are noted as probable cases, according to MDH. A total of 24,073 probable cases have been reported since antigen testing began in September.

So far, 6,521 people have died from the coronavirus in Minnesota. Of those deaths, 273 are listed as probable COVID-19 deaths. Of the total deaths reported as of Thursday, 4,070 were residents of a long-term care facility.

To date, 25,896 COVID-19 patients have been hospitalized in Minnesota and 5,344 patients have been in the ICU.

According to MDH, the new positive COVID-19 cases in Minnesota reported on Thursday moved the state’s total to 487,374 since pandemic record-keeping began. A total of 473,728 patients have recovered or are recovering and no longer need isolation.

As of Thursday, approximately 7.4 million COVID-19 tests have been completed in Minnesota.

KSTP’s latest COVID-19 coverage

See the full Minnesota COVID-19 situation update here.

According to the Johns Hopkins Center for Systems Science and Engineering, the virus has infected more than 115.3 million people worldwide and killed over 2.56 million people.

About 65 million people worldwide have recovered as of Thursday.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, patients with confirmed COVID-19 have mild to severe respiratory problems, with symptoms of fever, cough and shortness of breath. Some patients report a loss of smell and/or taste and having muscle aches, headache, sore throat, and/or chills and shaking.

Note: According to MDH – "Because all data are preliminary, the change in number of cumulative positive cases and deaths from one day to the next may not equal the newly reported cases or deaths."