COVID-19

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Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Prevention and Control Division
651-201-5414
IDEPC Comment Form

Contact Info

Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Prevention and Control Division
651-201-5414
IDEPC Comment Form

Case & Variant Data
COVID-19 Situation Update

Updated 12/5/2024
Updated weekly on Thursdays at 11 a.m. with data as of 4 a.m. on the Tuesday prior, unless noted otherwise.

Situation Update Home:   Cases & Variants | Hospitalizations | Mortality (Deaths)

Due to changes in COVID-19 surveillance following the end of the national Public Health Emergency, certain data elements were removed on June 1, 2023. See COVID-19 Data Archive for an archive of the data that is no longer being updated. Despite the end of the declared emergency, COVID-19 remains an ongoing public health problem that MDH will continue to monitor using sustainable data sources.

  • Population estimates are obtained from the 2010 Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) and the 2019 American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year estimates for the state of Minnesota available at United States Census Bureau: Explore Census Data.
  • Case data by date is represented by the date of specimen collection unless otherwise specified.
  • All data are preliminary, and reports require verification before counting as a case. Therefore, the data may change and reports for the most recent weeks may more dramatically undercount the total number of cases occurring in that week. We continuously receive case reports and work to confirm, process, and report them as quickly as possible.
  • The data on this page only reflect results from people who seek in-person testing. Test seeking behaviors change over time and MDH is not able to collect information on people who are sick but do not seek testing, or who choose to test at home.
  • For some cases, sex, race/ethnicity, or age data may not be available and therefore are excluded from an analysis. This means that the total number of cases for each of the charts below may vary slightly.
  • Most of the graphs on this page show COVID-19 case rates rather than case counts. It is important to use case rates when making comparisons between groups that have different population sizes. For example, the White population is much larger than the Native American/Alaska Native population in Minnesota so we would expect to see much higher case counts among White Minnesotans. In order to compare whether one of these two groups is being disproportionately impacted by COVID-19, we must calculate the rate, which is the number of cases divided by the population size. Count data is still available and can be found in the CSV files that accompany each graph.
  • Age adjustment for age-adjusted rates is performed when you want to make comparisons between groups with different age distributions. It is important to note, that age-adjusted rates are not the actual rate of disease occurring in the state. The crude rate is the actual rate among a population in the state of Minnesota and is a result of many factors, including age, race/ethnicity, gender, and other factors we are unable to measure.
    • For example, in Minnesota women are on average older than men. Because age is associated with a higher rate of severe infection and death due to COVID-19, the rate of hospitalization and death in women in Minnesota might be higher because women are older. If we want to understand whether a woman is at higher risk of hospitalization or death compared to a man of the same age, we use age adjustment to remove the effect of age in the population to make a more direct comparison by sex. The same process can be used to compare different groups by  race/ethnicity or other factors.
  • Data for the most recent MMWR week will only contain information for Sunday through Tuesday based on when the data are compiled to create these graphs.

On this page:
Case Trends
Demographics
Variants Circulating in MN

Case Trends

Total positive cases, including reinfections (cumulative)1,949,146
Statewide case rate (per 100,000) for the week 11/20/2024-11/26/202417.815

Demographics

Case Rate by Age Group

  • Download: Case Rate by Age Group (CSV)
  • Rates are calculated using probable and confirmed cases by reported age at date of specimen collection divided by the total age-specific Minnesota population. The rate is then multiplied by 100,000.
  • The “total” rate line is the total of all cases in this graph (for whom age is available) divided by the Minnesota population, obtained by adding together the total population for each age group. The rate is then multiplied by 100,000.

Case Rate by Race/Ethnicity

  • Download: Case Rate by Race and Ethnicity (CSV)
  • Rates are calculated using probable and confirmed cases by reported race/ethnicity at date of specimen collection divided by the total Minnesota population of each race/ethnicity. The rate is then multiplied by 100,000.
  • The “total” rate line is the total of all cases in this graph (for whom race and ethnicity data is available) divided by the Minnesota population. The rate is then multiplied by 100,000.
  • The age-adjusted rates per 100,000 are obtained by taking the incidence rate per 100,000 (as described above) for all cases for whom race and ethnicity data is available and standardizing to the U.S. 2000 Standard Population which can be obtained from the National Cancer Institute: Standard Populations (Millions) for Age-Adjustment.

Variants Circulating in Minnesota

Lineage Distribution

  • Download: Lineage Distribution (CSV)
  • Viruses like SARS-CoV-2 continuously change. These changes, or mutations, define a variant of the virus. Variants still cause illness but may spread more easily or have other attributes compared to the original virus.
  • The Minnesota Department of Health monitors variants of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, among Minnesota residents. The specific lineages are determined using whole genome sequencing of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
  • On a weekly basis, approximately 5% to 20% of cases of COVID-19 have sequencing information available, providing scientists with valuable information about variants circulating in the state.
  • Routine sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 specimens began in January 2021. There is a delay of a couple weeks for posting variant data due to the time it takes to transport specimens, run sequencing tests, and analyze the data.
  • The figure above shows what proportion of all sequenced specimens were attributable to lineages identified in Minnesota.
  • The figure displays the most recent two-week periods of data over a time period of approximately six months. As a new two-week period of data is added, the oldest will be removed. Occasionally there will not be enough new data in the most recent two-week period to present reliable lineage trends and a ‘Pending’ category will be displayed.
  • The specific lineage names often change as more data are collected and additional analyses are completed. This figure presents the assigned lineage at the time of analysis and does not include lineage nicknames. Additional information about how lineages are named and the Pango Nomenclature System can be found at CDC: SARS-CoV-2 Variant Classifications and Definitions.
    Additional information about variants:

Relationships Between Select SARS-CoV-2 Variant Lineages (from CDC Variant Tracker)

  • This diagram from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: COVID Data Tracker shows the relationship of SARS-CoV-2 Pango lineages to each other. A full list of the current Pango lineages can be found on the cov-lineages.org Lineage List.
  • The Minnesota Department of Health monitors SARS CoV-2 viruses from every lineage, but our data typically only display a lineage when it comprises over 5% of sequenced samples or has been designated as a variant of concern or variant under monitoring by the CDC or World Health Organization. Some lineages have key differences in spike protein sequence that may reduce the effectiveness of some treatments or increase the virus's ability to spread. These lineages may be separated from their parent lineage when they comprise a larger proportion of sequenced samples in Minnesota.
  • This diagram depicts the relationships between select variants; it does not show the distance between variants in terms of the number of genetic mutations.
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Last Updated: 12/05/2024