Minnesota has reached two opposing milestones in the COVID-19 pandemic, reporting Thursday that more than 500,000 people have suffered known infections and more than 2 million doses of vaccine have been administered.
The notable figures come as health officials detect a slight uptick in COVID-19 activity in Minnesota, despite more than 23% of people having received vaccine against the infectious disease. That includes 77% of senior citizens at greater risk of severe COVID-19.
"Hope is on the horizon," Gov. Tim Walz said in a statement regarding the vaccine milestone, despite being quarantined himself until March 25 due to exposure to the virus.
The governor's COVID-19 test on Thursday was negative.
The emergence of more infectious variants of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 appears to be fueling some increase in pandemic activity despite the vaccination progress. The positivity rate of diagnostic testing had dropped from a peak of 15.4% on Nov. 9 to 3.3% on March 3 before rising back to 4.1%.
Hospitalizations also have increased in Minnesota, where the number of COVID-19 patients needing intensive care doubled from 37 on March 6 to 74 on Wednesday. However, the hospital figure remains below the peak of 399 COVID-19 ICU cases on Dec. 1.
The average age of COVID-19 patients admitted to M Health Fairview hospitals in the Twin Cities is almost a decade lower than it was during that winter peak, said Dr. Andrew Olson, the system's medical director for COVID-19 Hospital Medicine.
"To me, that says that both the elderly population may be slightly less at risk, and young people continue to drive this pandemic," he said.