MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Minnesota health officials Friday reported a single-day high of 3,165 new coronavirus infections, with 18 deaths.
The state also reported 738 hospitalizations, another single-day high, with 176 people in intensive care.
States around the country are struggling with rising cases of the coronavirus. Despite the rising hospitalizations, Dr. Rahul Koranne of the Minnesota Hospital Association told the Minneapolis Star Tribune that hospitals are in better position to handle the surge than earlier this year.
“If there continues to be increased community spread and that results in a much higher number of Minnesotans needing both ICU care or non-ICU care, we have, operationally, dials that we will continue to fine-tune within the hospitals,” he told the newspaper.
State infectious disease director Kris Ehresmann said infections among staff and residents of long-term care facilities have started to increase again - with 186 identified on Tuesday alone. That comes after a summer when prevention measures kept the state’s infection rate at such facilities among the lowest in the nation.
“That work only gets us so far,” Ehresmann said. “We have an incredibly high rate of COVID transmission in our communities and that places tremendous pressure on the safeguards we put in place to prevent COVID outbreaks in long-term care.”
The average length of hospital stay for COVID-19 patients is now three to four days, down from four to five days earlier in the pandemic, Ehresmann said.
New therapeutics such as the antiviral remdesivir and the steroid dexamethasone have helped to improve outcomes. The Star Tribune reported a state review of COVID-19 hospitalizations in May showed a 15% death rate, but updated totals as of mid-October showed that the rate had dropped to 10%.
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