MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota saw more than 275,000 new COVID-19 cases in January, the highest monthly total for the pandemic.
Fueled by the highly infectious omicron variant, the state surpassed the monthly record of 180,000 cases set in November 2020 before the COVID-19 vaccines were introduced.
But omicron has not caused as many hospitalizations and deaths, due in part to Minnesota's COVID-19 vaccination rate of 64.7%.
Preliminary data for January show that about 5,300 were admitted to Minnesota hospitals for COVID-19 complications, down from nearly 7,000 in November 2020. Of those, 510 required intensive care, less than half of the 1,180 ICU admissions at the height of the fall 2020 surge.
Even with the high number of infections, so far about 659 people died last month from COVID-19, down 40% from the December total.
The Minnesota Department of Health on Tuesday reported 21,360 cases and 46 additional deaths, representing reports made to the health agency Friday through Sunday, as well as some backlogged cases.
Health officials said January had the top 10 highest daily reports of new cases for the pandemic and at one point there was a backlog of more than 45,000 cases because agency employees could not keep up with the high volume.
Altogether, Minnesota has reported 1.3 million COVID-19 infections and 11,457 fatalities.
As of Monday, there were 1,370 patients hospitalized with COVID-19, including 192 in intensive care. Still, patients with other medical conditions are keeping hospitals busy, with 95% of adult ICU beds occupied along with 88% of pediatric ICU beds full.
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