Minnesota health authorities reported 15 more COVID-19 deaths Thursday, including 11 residents of long-term care or assisted-living facilities.
The latest data from the Minnesota Department of Health reflects the continued disparity in the COVID-19 death toll by age and residence type. Among 1,884 total COVID-19 deaths in Minnesota, 73% have involved mostly elderly residents of long-term care facilities.
People 70 and older make up less than 10% of the state's total of 82,249 lab-confirmed infections with the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19, but they make up 80% of the deaths from the infectious disease. Total lab-confirmed infections include 389 reported by the state health department on Thursday.
The disparity in deaths by age and residence type has lessened over time, though. A Star Tribune review of 796 COVID-19 deaths reported through June 15 showed that 77.3% involved residents of long-term care or assisted living facilities. That rate dropped to 59.1% for COVID-19 deaths reported since that time.
State health officials scheduled a media briefing Thursday afternoon to discuss the state of the pandemic in long-term care facilities, and the efforts to reduce infections among workers and residents of such facilities.
Twelve of the 15 deaths reported on Thursday involved people 70 or older; two deaths involving people in their fifties and one involving someone in the sixties age range.
The state on Thursday also reported that 257 people were hospitalized with COVID-19, and that 138 required intensive care due to breathing problems or other complications from the infectious disease.
Health officials are concerned that recent upticks in infections in young adults — particularly related to college students and outbreaks in bars or large group settings — could spread the virus back to more vulnerable populations. The positivity rate of COVID-19 diagnostic testing has risen to nearly 6%, and the rate of infections linked to unknown community sources is 34%.
