MN lowest in Upper Midwest in rate of COVID cases, deaths

Mark Fischenich, The Free Press, Mankato, Minn.
·2 min read

Feb. 27—MANKATO — No area residents were among the 13 new COVID-19 deaths reported across Minnesota, but there were 58 more confirmed cases of the disease in the nine-county region around Mankato.

The new victims of the pandemic, who ranged in age from their early 60s to their late 90s, brings Minnesota's tally to 6,475, although Minnesota has moved ahead of Wisconsin for the lowest per capita rate of COVID-19 related deaths in the five-state region.

The total number of new cases statewide was 826.

The new cases in area counties included:

—Blue Earth — 14

—Brown — 9

—Faribault — 2

—Le Sueur — 2

—Martin — 3

—Nicollet — 13

—Sibley — 1

—Waseca — 7

—Watonwan — 7

Counts of cases and deaths in recent weeks have been relatively steady after falling sharply in January and early February.

The number of cases so severe as to require hospitalization remains much lower than the worst days of the pandemic. Minnesota's hospitals, after regularly reporting more than 200 beds occupied by COVID patients in November and early December and topping out at 310 on Nov. 19, have had fewer than 100 COVID patients every day for 49 straight days.

Statewide, hospitals had at least 10 and as many as 51 patients in their intensive care units throughout October, November and December. Saturday marked the 10th straight day that the number of ICU patients has been under 10.

Minnesota joins North Dakota, Hawaii and New Hampshire in having the lowest per capita death rates in the past week, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Only Alaska, which had no deaths, was lower.

Since the start of the pandemic, Minnesota now has both the lowest per capita case rate and the lowest per capita death rate in the Upper Midwest.

Minnesota has had 8,544 cases and 115 deaths per 100,000 people. Wisconsin, which until recently had a lower death rate than Minnesota, is now at 10,566 cases per 100,000 residents and 120 deaths.

Iowa's per capita numbers for cases and deaths are 10,615 and 172, respectively.

The Dakotas have fared worst in the region with North Dakota having 189 deaths per 100,000 residents and a region-worst 13,084 cases. South Dakota has the grimmest per capita fatality rate at 211 but was slightly better than its neighbor to the north in cases with 12,656. The two states are first and second in the nation in per capita cases and are both in the top 10 in deaths per capita.

Fifteen states overall have a lower death rate than Minnesota, looking at the entirety of the pandemic, with Hawaii's 30 deaths per 100,000 residents leading the way, according to the CDC. Eighteen states have lower case rates than Minnesota's, and Hawaii is also faring best in that category.