Multiple COVID deaths reported in local area

The Minnesota Department of Health reported 100 new coronavirus deaths coming off Thanksgiving weekend, several of those fatalities from counties in southern Minnesota.

The totals encompass a number of days since health officials weren’t processing death reports on Thanksgiving Day or Black Friday.  The fatalities recorded Wednesday brought the state’s death toll to 9,482.

Among the deaths were three local residents in their late 60’s: two from Blue Earth County and one from Le Sueur County.  A person in their early 60’s from Martin County was among the fatalities.  Two Brown County residents also died.  Those victims were in their early 70’s and late 80’s.  In Faribault County, a person in their early 80’s died. And in Waseca County, a person in their late 90’s died from the virus.

MDH reports 1,562 patients were hospitalized with COVID-19 on Tuesday.  That number includes 356 patients in intensive care.  Minnesota’s south-central region, which includes Blue Earth and the surrounding counties, has about 9% available staffed adult ICU beds.  Available non-ICU capacity in the region is at 13%.

State health officials also logged another 3,580 new infections Tuesday, including 29 cases in Blue Earth County, 18 cases in Le Sueur County, and nine new infections in each Brown and Sibley counties.