Remember yesterday when I said cases were really low, but this was due to the holiday and we should probably expect a bounceback?
Today’s the bounceback. Numbers today will look scary, but they’re not, really — it’s just a consequence of when things are reported.
Yesterday’s report had 4,511 new cases, 4.34% positive.
Today was 12,632 cases & 17.29% (!) positive.
BUT: if you take the two days together, it’s a 9.7% positivity rate, in line with recent trends. Our 7-day average positivity rate is BELOW where it was at the end of last week
As of Friday’s report, MN was averaging 4,175 new cases per day, and a 9.19% positivity rate.
Today, after yesterday’s fall and today’s rise, we’re at 3,576 cases per day and 9.05%.
Follow the general trend — smooth out the spikes and it’s one of moderate decline.
Ignore anyone hyperventilating about today’s 12.6K cases (technically the most ever in a single report, but this is many days of data) and 17.3% daily positivity. All that shows is someone not understanding the data.
The trends remain cautiously encouraging for MN.
Hospital bed use figures haven’t fallen yet, but we’re no longer seeing the explosive growth of earlier this month.
Some of that may be due to limited capacity, but it also reflects slowdowns in case growth in recent weeks.
Cases and positivity rate are both about 15%-20% below their averages 14 days ago. (I’m less confident that the hospitalization line here has stabilized after the holiday weekend, so don’t pay as much attention to it.)
MN reported no new deaths today due to holiday weekend staffing issues; we’ll get an extra big lump of newly reported deaths tomorrow. Keep that in mind.
Cases continue to be the lowest in Hennepin/Ramsey. But the surrounding suburban counties now have among the highest levels in the state. That’s less b/c the suburban counties are up than because cases have fallen in western MN.
MN is up to 68.7% of the population with at least one dose, and 18.4% with a booster.
22.7% of kids 5-11 now have at least one dose; we’re even seeing a few kids in this age bracket who’ve received their second dose.
Overall it looks like in November just over 8% of the state’s unvaccinated population got their first dose, the highest rate since May.
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