Three area COVID deaths confirmed

**This story was updated from a previous version that reported one death in Nicollet County**

COVID-19 deaths were confirmed in Blue Earth and Nicollet counties, the Minnesota Department of Health reported Tuesday.

Tuesday data is often higher than a normal single-day report because it includes numbers from the weekend and Monday.

In Blue Earth County, the death involved a person in their early 80’s, while Nicollet County reported two fatalities, both involving victims in their late 60’s.  Thirty-five deaths in other counties were also recorded Tuesday for a total of 37 statewide.  Two of those deaths occurred in October.  Minnesota has now seen a total of 9,229 coronavirus deaths.

Hospitalizations were at 1,429 as of Monday, including 320 patients in intensive care.  A majority of the state is operating on little to no ICU capacity, but in the south-central region, which includes Blue Earth and the surrounding counties, about 13% of staffed ICU beds remain open.  Non-ICU capacity in the local region is at about 17% availability.

MDH also logged 11,455 new infections Tuesday.  Here are the most recent new case counts in southern Minnesota:

Blue Earth – 179 (5 probable)
Brown – 45
Cottonwood – 6 (18 probable)
Faribault – 29 (2 probable)
Fillmore – 47
Freeborn – 52 (13 probable)
Jackson – 6 (1 probable)
Le Sueur – 63 (8 probable)
Martin – 31 (3 probable)
McLeod – 53 (31 probable)
Mower – 66 (1 probable)
Murray – 7 (2 probable)
Nicollet – 82 (2 probable)
Nobles – 19 (3 probble)
Redwood – 23 (3 probable)
Renville – 28 (2 probable)
Rice – 109 (10 probable)
Sibley – 40 (8 probable)
Steele – 88 (3 probable)
Waseca – 45 (2 probable)
Watonwan – 9