Update: Minnesota Reports Single Day Record of 56 COVID-19 Related Deaths

Update: Minnesota health officials reported a single-day record of 56 new COVID-19 related deaths today, along with 4,900 new coronavirus cases.

The previous high for deaths in one day was 36, but Gov. Walz said yesterday that counts of 50 or more could be expected until the state slows down the spread of the coronavirus.

The deaths included three people from the Lakeland viewing area:

• One from Crow Wing County aged 80-84
• One from Hubbard County aged 75-79
• One from Morrison County aged 75-79

The new cases came from 24,677 tests for a case positivity rate of 19.8%. The seven-day rolling average for case positivity reported on Monday was at 12.5%.

In the Lakeland viewing area, the state reported 526 new cases in the following counties:

• Aitkin – 20
• Beltrami – 48
• Cass – 34
• Clearwater – 8
• Crow Wing – 117
• Hubbard – 25
• Itasca – 57
• Koochiching – 8
• Mahnomen – 2
• Mille Lacs – 33
• Morrison – 27
• Polk – 76
• Roseau – 16
• Todd – 27
• Wadena – 28

Original story follows:

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota health officials will report a record 56 new deaths from COVID-19 when they release updated figures Wednesday, Gov. Tim Walz said.

Walz told Minnesota Public Radio the daily report will also show positivity rates above 20%, an important measure of how fast the disease is spreading. The 7-day rolling average of the positivity rate in Minnesota has nearly doubled over the past two weeks from just under 7% on Oct. 27 to nearly 13% on Tuesday, according to data from The COVID Tracking Project.

The governor made the comments a day after warning Minnesotans that the state is approaching the worst phase of the pandemic and that conditions will get dramatically worse unless people start changing their behavior. He said it won’t be unusual for people to open their newspapers and see 50 to 60 new deaths.

“This is just inevitable if we do not change our behaviors and take some mitigation efforts, this will continue to spike,” Walz told MPR.

Minnesota’s previous record was 36 deaths, reported on Friday.

The governor on Tuesday announced new restrictions aimed at slowing the accelerating spread of the coronavirus. Bars and restaurants must stop serving at 10 p.m., but can still offer takeout and delivery, and attendance at weddings, funerals and social gatherings will be limited.