Today’s Covid-19 Update for Tuesday February 16 2021

Tuesday’s COVID update from the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) includes 476 new cases and two deaths.

The newly reported deaths bring the state’s total to 6,380 over the course of the pandemic. Of those deaths, 62.8% (4,016) were residents of long-term care.

Through Feb. 14, the state reported that 686,210 people have received at least 1 dose of the a COVID-19 vaccine while 240,027 people have completed both doses of vaccine that are required for the vaccines’ maximum effect.

MDH has a public dashboard to track vaccine progress in Minnesota, and you can view it here.

Two new variants of the coronavirus have been confirmed in Minnesota, including what was the first known case of the Brazil P.1 variant in the United States. That case involves a Minnesotan who traveled to Brazil. There are 8 confirmed cases of the B.1.1.7 variant. Both new strains are believed to be more transmissible.

The 476 positive results in Tuesday’s update were from a total of 9,333 completed tests, creating a daily test positivity rate of 5.1%.

According to Johns Hopkins University, Minnesota’s test positivity rate over the past seven days is 3.21%, making it one of the lowest rates in the country.

The World Health Organization recommends that a percent positive rate (total positives divided by total completed tests) of below 5% for at least two weeks is necessary to safely reopen the economy.That 5% threshold is based on total positives divided by total tests.

Statewide:

• Total tests: 6,999,322 (up from 6,990,085)
• People tested: 3,373,632 (up from 3,371,276)
• People with at least 1 vaccine shot: 686,210 (up from 675,329)
• People with 2 vaccine shots: 240,027 (up from 238,104)
• Positive cases: 474,621 (up from 474,169)
• Deaths: 6,380 – 265 of which are “probable*” (up from 6,378)
• Patients no longer requiring isolation: 461,406 (up from 460,537)

Updated daily with data current as of 4 p.m. the previous day.