Teens targeted for vaccine as Minnesota pre-K-12 COVID-19 infections rise

State health officials urged eligible Minnesota teenagers to seek COVID-19 vaccine now that supplies are plentiful and infections are continuing to spread in school-age populations.

The latest weekly COVID-19 activity report, released Thursday by the Minnesota Department of Health, showed more than 1,000 diagnosed infections among pre-K-12 students in each of the last two weeks. That substantially eclipsed the number of student infections detected during the severe pandemic wave late last year.

The state on Thursday also announced another 15 COVID-19 deaths and 1,921 infections with the novel coronavirus that causes the respiratory disease — raising Minnesota's pandemic totals to 7,128 deaths and 573,938 known infections.

Gov. Tim Walz on Wednesday said teens are an important part of Minnesota's goal to reach a COVID-19 vaccination rate of 80%, which health officials believe will stifle the spread of the virus.

"To get to herd immunity we need to protect as many people as possible, and that includes teens," Walz said in a statement. "That's why we're making this push."

The push includes a special offer of Pfizer vaccine — the only one available to people age 16 and 17 — to eligible teenagers by appointment through this weekend at the state's Mall of American vaccination site.

Increased surveillance testing is likely increasing the number of infections found in students, including in those who have no symptoms. Deaths and severe cases are rare in children and teenagers, though Minnesota earlier this week reported a COVID-19-related death of a first-grader in Marshall, Minn., who had no other known health problems.

"This sad situation is concerning and further demonstrates we need to continue to protect one another — especially our youngest Minnesotans under the age of 16 who are not yet eligible for vaccines," said Dr. Marilyn Peitso, president of the Minnesota Medical Association, in a statement released Thursday.

State health officials said it is important to identify even asymptomatic teen infections to try to slow the pandemic and maintain in-person learning as well as upcoming plans for proms and graduations.

Infection numbers involving pre-K-12 educators have not increased in this latest pandemic wave, largely because they were prioritized along with senior citizens for the earliest, limited supplies of COVID-19 vaccine. There were nearly 800 infections found among pre-K-12 educators in the week ending Nov. 14, compared with less than 200 in the week ending April 24.

Minnesota on Thursday reported that more than 2.5 million people have received some COVID-19 vaccine — amounting to 57% of the state's eligible population — and that more than 1.8 million people have completed the one- or two-dose series.

Nearly 87% of senior citizens in Minnesota have received some vaccine — a key target group that has suffered 89% of the state's COVID-19 deaths. State health officials believe vaccination progress in that group explains why COVID-19 deaths have not increased over the past month at the same rate as infections and hospitalizations.

Key indicators continued to suggest the latest pandemic wave is easing. The seven-day average positivity rate of diagnostic testing in Minnesota has declined from 7.5% on April 8 to 6.4%.

Pressure on hospitals has lessened as well. The number of COVID-19 cases in Minnesota hospital inpatient beds had increased from 210 on March 6 to 699 on April 17, but has since declined to 644.

Jeremy Olson • 612-673-7744