Twenty-two more deaths and an additional 310 confirmed COVID-19 cases were announced Tuesday by the Minnesota Department of Health.
The coronavirus pandemic has caused 1,072 deaths in the state, including 866 among residents of long-term care facilities. Eleven of the deaths announced Tuesday were among nursing home or assisted-living facility residents.
Residents of long-term care facilities are particularly vulnerable to COVID-19 due to underlying health conditions like heart or kidney disease, diabetes and obesity.
A total of 25,508 people have been diagnosed with COVID-19, although many more cases have not been detected through testing, according to state officials.
The number of new cases has generally fallen over the past 10 days, down from a high of 840 cases on May 23.
"The trendlines are favorable in terms of the rate of case growth," said Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm at Monday's media briefing. "It is too early for any of us to declare it a trend."
Hospitalizations have generally been increasing, although 12 fewer people needed hospital care since Monday. There are 537 COVID-19 inpatients, with 248 in intensive care.
State health officials have been monitoring hospital usage due to COVID-19 as part of an effort to manage resources like personal protective equipment, ventilators and ICU beds.
Since the pandemic began, about 12% of confirmed cases have needed hospital-level care and about one-third of those have needed intensive care.
About 80% of those who become infected with the new coronavirus have mild symptoms and usually don't need medical attention. Altogether, 20,381 of those who have become ill no longer need to be isolated.
The state's public health laboratory near the Minnesota Capitol has taken a pause in testing as a precautionary measure due to the protests. It has not processed samples since Friday.
Private labs ran 3,155 tests. About 259,000 COVID-19 tests have been performed by both state and private labs.
