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COVID-19 trends remain flat or improving in Minnesota, despite new coronavirus variants taking hold in a population that has fallen behind on vaccine recommendations.
Minnesota hospitals reported only 398 inpatient cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday — the first time since mid-October that the total had been below 400, according to Thursday's state pandemic situation update. Viral loads in wastewater declined slightly on Monday across all six state reporting regions, according to the latest University of Minnesota monitoring data.
"You don't get a sense much is changing. There is still a lot of virus in wastewater but it's not going up or down significantly," said Dr. Timothy Schacker, vice dean for research at the University of Minnesota Medical School.
The lack of an increase in COVID-19 activity defied concerns that holiday gatherings would fuel more viral spread and generate more infections.
Schacker said he had interpreted wastewater data over the holidays with caution, because reduced staffing could have left samples out in the cold and in transit for longer periods before they were analyzed. U researchers are now testing samples to see if the cold or delays have any artificial impact on results.
The state update on seasonal influenza on Thursday similarly showed a decline in infections and hospitalizations after a surprisingly early wave of flu cases this fall. The 44 flu-related hospitalizations in the week ending Jan. 14 was down from 85 the prior week and a peak of nearly 600 per week in mid-November.
The concern as Minnesota completes its third year of the COVID-19 pandemic is the presence of the XBB variant of the coronavirus, which has increased viral transmission elsewhere. Last week's monitoring at the Metropolitan Wastewater Treatment Plant in St. Paul found the variant made up 27% of viral material in sewage samples — up from 15% the prior week.
