Most of the Twin Cities area has been downgraded to a low COVID-19 risk level as part of a new federal tracking system that assesses community threat based on hospital burden.
While Hennepin and Carver counties remain at medium risk, the rest of the seven-county metro area is listed at low risk by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC does not call for mask-wearing in the general population in low-risk counties, and it instead advises them to maintain vaccination progress and improve indoor ventilation to reduce viral transmission. Masks remain considerations in medium-risk counties for people who could suffer severe COVID-19 because of existing medical conditions and are recommended in indoor public places in high-risk counties.
The improving risk levels complement Minnesota data showing a decline in the COVID-19 omicron wave in the state. The 557 COVID-19 hospitalizations in Minnesota on Friday represented a sharp decline from 1,363 on Feb. 1 and included the lowest number of patients requiring intensive care since Aug. 2. The state's reported positivity rate of COVID-19 testing declined from a peak of 23.5% on Jan. 10 to 6.6% in the week ending Feb. 18.
"We certainly are on the backside of the omicron wave here," said Dr. William Morice, chairman of Mayo Clinic's department of laboratory medicine and pathology. "All of the numbers are headed in the right direction."
Sections of central and southeast Minnesota remain at high risk under the new CDC methodology, which is no longer based solely on coronavirus infection rates. Home testing options and other factors have diminished the utility of infection rates.
The CDC now assesses risks based mostly on the rate of new COVID-19 hospital admissions in a county and the percentage of hospital beds occupied by infected patients. That aligns with Minnesota's primary goal since the start of the pandemic to preserve hospital beds.
"That has been the concern right from the start, the overwhelming of hospital systems with sick patients," Morice said. "And we have been at that threshold with hospitals in the state a couple of times."