More than 10 percent of Minnesotans have completed vaccinations

Published 5:19 pm Sunday, March 7, 2021

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More than 10 percent of Minnesota residents have now completed their COVID-19 vaccinations, state health officials reported Sunday.

That includes people who have received both doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, or the sole dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Nearly 19 percent of Minnesotans have received at least one dose — including nearly 64 percent of state residents 65 and older, as the state this weekend marks the one-year anniversary of its first confirmed COVID case.

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While vaccinations continue, there has been a slight uptick in newly confirmed cases in recent days. Averaged over the past week, Sunday’s update from the state health department showed Minnesota is seeing about 786 new cases each day. That’s up from about 753 on Friday.

Sunday’s update showed a slight decrease in COVID deaths and hospital admissions reported each day, averaged over the past week.

Here are Minnesota’s current COVID-19 statistics:

  • 6,550 deaths (4 new)
  • 490,011 positive cases (897 new); 97 percent off isolation
  • 18.8 percent of Minnesotans with at least 1 dose
  • 63.9 percent 65 and older with at least 1 dose

The pace of vaccinations fell slightly in Sunday’s update. Averaged over the past week, Minnesota is now administering just over 39,000 shots a day — down from a record high of more than 41,000 a day as of Saturday’s report. That’s in part because of an unusually high number of vaccinations reported the previous Sunday, as weather-delayed vaccine doses made their way around the state.

The Health Department on Sunday reported 570,038 people — about 10.2 percent of the state’s population — are completely vaccinated now. More than 1 million Minnesotans — about 18.8 percent — had received at least one dose.

South-central Minnesota update

Freeborn County reported seven new cases Sunday, increasing the county’s cumulative case total to 2,871.

Of that number, 80 are considered active cases. The Freeborn County Public Health Department reported no new hospitalization or deaths.

The new cases included two people 4 or under, one person between 15 and 19, one person in their 30s, one person in their 40s and two people in their 60s.

The following are updates on other area counties:

• Faribault County: one new lab-confirmed cases; 1,250 total cases

• Mower County: 11 new lab-confirmed cases; 4,119 total cases

• Steele County: six new lab-confirmed cases, one probable case; 3,043 total cases

• Waseca County: nine new lab-confirmed cases; 2,112 total cases