Commissioner Jan Malcolm, Department of Health

• Commissioner Malcolm reported 907 new cases of COVID-19. This brings the state’s total number of COVID-19 cases to 470,803.
• Yesterday, 44,203 lab tests were processed.
• Currently, 320 patients are hospitalized due to COVID-19 with 78 in the ICU.
• There were 24 more deaths due to COVID-19. This brings the state’s total number of COVID-19 fatalities to 6,343.
• The seven-day COVID-19 test positivity average is 3.9% as of February 2. This is below the caution category and is the lowest test positivity rate since June 27.
• More than 777,000 total COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered to Minnesotans. The total number of people with one dose of the vaccine is almost 600,000. Over 177,000 Minnesotans have received both doses of the vaccine.
• While the state is making tremendous progress associated with the vaccine rollout, the commissioner expects the state to continue to struggle with limited supply of the vaccine, which could continue for weeks and months to come.
• With the new variants of the virus circulating, the state is in a race against time to vaccinate as many people as quickly as possible to bring the pandemic to an end.
• When asked for the Minnesota Department of Health’s guidance on traveling, Commissioner Malcolm responded the department is still discouraging discretionary travel.
• When asked when the Minnesota Department of Health will announce plans for Phase 1B and Phase 1C, Commissioner Malcolm responded that the state does not have a timeline for an announcement for those phases and is awaiting more federal clarity on that front.

Director Kris Ehresmann, Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Prevention, and Control Division

• Director Ehresmann said there are “reasons to feel good about the direction we’re headed. The light at the end of the tunnel is growing brighter every day thanks to the rising number of vaccinations and the work of people across Minnesota.”
• While acknowledging that Minnesota is in a better place than it has been in quite some time, she stated that individuals still need to keep up their guard until the state has reached the goal of crushing the virus given the more contagious variants of the virus circulating.
• 18 more cases of the UK variant have been detected in Minnesota.
• Two more cases of the Brazil variant have been detected in Minnesota.
• Public health officials are concerned that the UK variant could be the dominant strain of the virus by March given its higher transmissibility rate.
• She implored Minnesotans to continue wearing masks, physical distancing, and avoiding crowded indoor spaces.
• Director Ehresmann noted that the state’s healthcare systems have the capacity to vaccinate 400,000 individuals per week once more vaccine supply becomes available, which would mean that 24 million doses of the vaccine would be distributed across the nation weekly.
• Almost 30% of Minnesotans 65-and-older have received a first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Amos A. Briggs | Government Relations
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