Coronavirus Wednesday update: 24 more Minnesota COVID-19 deaths and 2,388 more infections

Christopher Magan, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.
·1 min read

Oct. 13—Minnesota reported 24 more COVID-19 deaths Wednesday and 2,388 new infections.

The latest deaths, recorded by the state Department of Health, included three people in their 30s, four in their 50s and several in their 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s. Five of the latest reported fatalities lived in long-term care and 19 in private homes.

Seniors have accounted for 87 percent of Minnesota's COVID-19 fatalities, but deaths among middle-age and younger residents have been on the rise. There have been 22 deaths in people who were under the age of 30, and 1,102 fatalities between the ages of 30 and 64.

Since the pandemic began, 8,354 Minnesotans have died of COVID-19 with 4,687 deaths in long-term care. Another 113 fatalities are suspected to have been caused by COVID-19, but the person never had a positive coronavirus test.

Hospitalizations continue to climb, and Minnesota is nearing 1,000 COVID-19 patients during a summer-fall surge driven by the highly contagious delta variant of the coronavirus. There are 990 patients hospitalized, including 260 in critical condition.

Available hospital beds are in short supply across much of the state, largely because of staffing shortages.

Health officials say vaccines remain the best way to avoid a severe infection and to slow the spread of the coronavirus. "Breakthrough" infections are becoming more common, but more than 98 percent of the 3.2 million Minnesotans who have been fully vaccinated have not reported a breakthrough case.

Minnesota has administered 6.6 million doses of vaccine and 3.4 million residents have gotten at least one shot. About 73 percent of the eligible population, age 12 and older, has gotten at least one dose.