Two key COVID-19 metrics reached historical lows in Minnesota — with the positivity rate of diagnostic testing declining to 2.3% and the number of hospitalizations related to the infectious disease dropping to 201.
The declining positivity rate indicates low levels of viral transmission in Minnesota, where 63.1% of eligible people 12 and older have received COVID-19 vaccine. The Minnesota Department of Health reported on Tuesday another 125 diagnosed infections with the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 and two deaths.
While that raised the state's pandemic totals to 603,005 infections and 7,469 deaths, Gov. Tim Walz said it also is one of the lowest new daily infection totals since March 2020 and shows the effectiveness of Minnesota's COVID-19 vaccination campaign.
"We can go places again. We can do things again," said Walz, speaking in a busy mall at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport to promote a new single-dose vaccination pop-up site for travelers. "This is what the vaccine brought us."
Vaccination progress has slowed over the past month in Minnesota, which lost a key resource Tuesday when a large federal vaccination site at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds closed as scheduled.
The state is on pace to fall just short of its goal of providing 70% of Minnesotans 16 and older with COVID-19 vaccine by July 1 — despite already reaching a 65.3% rate in that age group. However, Walz said Minnesota is close to becoming the 14th state to meet President Biden's goal of providing at least first doses to 70% of people 18 and older by July 4 and has numerous vaccine options ranging from local doctor offices to state pop-up sites to mobile bus clinics.
"We said it's going to be person to person, door to door, and in this case flight to flight," Walz said.
The new airport pop-up clinic serves Minnesotans but also has provided shots to people from Iceland, Guatemala and other countries that don't have as much access. A state official said federal doses brought over from the fairgrounds site are supplying the airport clinic.