18 COVID-19 deaths; Nobles Co cases top 600

(St. Paul, MN) – State health officials say 18 more people have died of COVID-19 as the total number of deaths in the state climbs to 319.

The Minnesota Department of Health says there are currently 320 people hospitalized with the virus, with 119 patients in intensive care.

The number of completed tests day-to-day has increased nearly every day in the last week.  There have now been 66,744 people tested for coronavirus in the state.  Wednesday’s report from MDH says 463 people tested positive in this last 24-hour period, bringing the statewide total of positive cases to 4,644.

Blue Earth County recorded one new case since Wednesday, for a total of 34 cases.  An update on the county COVID-19 statistics page says there have been two people in the county hospitalized for the virus.

Nobles County cases continue to rapidly grow, with 216 new confirmed positive cases, a total of 615 in the county.  One person has died in Nobles County to date.

Here are the latest positive case numbers from MDH for more local counties:

Brown – 8 (1 death)
Cottonwood – 20
Faribault – 5
Fillmore – 12 (1 death)
Freeborn – 34
Le Sueur – 24
Martin – 70 (4 deaths)
Mower – 28
Nicollet – 9 (2 deaths)
Redwood – 1
Renville – 4
Rice – 12 (1 death)
Sibley – 2
Steele – 15
Waseca – 4
Watonwan – 9