“We are in the middle of a COVID blizzard right now in Minnesota,” state infectious disease director Kris Ehresmann said. Minnesota has the nation’s highest rate of new coronavirus infections, but the “whole Midwest is lighting up,” said Michael Osterholm, director of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy.
The state on Monday reported another 5,266 coronavirus infections and a 9.7% positivity rate of COVID-19 diagnostic testing that brings Minnesota close to its 10% high-risk threshold for widespread viral transmission for the first time since December.
Breakthrough infections in fully vaccinated Minnesotans remain a component of the latest wave, because early recipients last winter are encountering waning immunity and needing booster doses. The state on Monday reported another 7,784 breakthrough infections, the total now being 72,629. COVID-19 deaths in fully vaccinated Minnesotans increased to 519.
