44 weekend COVID-19 deaths; ICU hospitalizations reach new high

(St. Paul, MN) – The Minnesota Department of Health reported 44 COVID-19 deaths over the weekend, as lab-confirmed cases rose past 11,000.

The latest deaths bring the state’s total to 578.  MDH reports that 464 of the total deaths were residents of long-term care or assisted living.

COVID-19 hospitalizations remained mostly steady, but the number of patients requiring intensive care is at the highest its been yet.  As of Sunday, 199 people were in the ICU, according to MDH.

Only three Minnesota counties remain virus free, none of them in southern Minnesota.  Lake of the Woods, Hubbard, and Cook still have zero lab-confirmed positive cases.

Here are case totals from around southern Minnesota:

Blue Earth – 65
Brown – 9 (1 death)
Cottonwood – 46
Faribault – 12
Fillmore – 13 (1 death)
Freeborn – 44
Jackson – 32
Le Sueur – 29
Martin – 112 (4 deaths)
Mower – 45
Nicollet – 21 (2 deaths)
Nobles – 1,255 (2 deaths)
Redwood – 3
Renville – 6
Rice – 114 (1 death)
Sibley – 4
Steele – 60
Waseca – 16
Watonwan – 22