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By Albert Lea Tribune and Minnesota Public Radio News

New Freeborn County COVID-19 case numbers continue to be low, though vaccination numbers have slowed drastically in recent weeks.

Only one new case has been reported in the last three days, and the county currently only has 13 active cases.

According to the Minnesota Department of Health 12,989 people have received at least one COVID-19 dose, and 11,669 have received the completed series.

While the rest of the state is above 60% vaccinated, Freeborn County has at least 10% fewer people vaccinated.

Tuesday’s Health Department data showed the average count of new cases remaining below 1,000, including two consecutive days with fewer than 600 new cases. Active case counts are also falling.

Vaccinations, though, have slowed to a relative crawl, raising concerns that hundreds of thousands of Minnesota adults might choose to go unvaccinated.

Even as they ended Minnesota’s statewide mask-wearing order last week, officials acknowledged the need to do more to connect unvaccinated Minnesotans to shots.

Active cases, hospitalizations trending down

Despite concerns around the sputtering vaccination rate, the overall pandemic picture continues to brighten.

As of Tuesday, the count of known, active COVID-19 cases came in at 7,384 — less than half its most recent high of around 20,000 in mid-April, and the lowest level since March 10.

There were 440 people hospitalized with COVID-19 in Minnesota; 112 needed intensive care. Both figures continue to trend down from their recent peaks. New hospital admissions have dropped significantly and are trending at six-week lows.

Fourteen newly reported deaths Tuesday brought Minnesota’s pandemic toll to 7,310. Among those who have died, about 60 percent had been living in long-term care or assisted-living facilities; most had underlying health problems.

The state has recorded 595,532 total confirmed or probable cases so far in the pandemic, including the 519 posted Tuesday — the second consecutive day of fewer than 600 new daily cases.

About 98%of Minnesotans known to be infected with COVID-19 in the pandemic have recovered to the point where they no longer need to isolate.

Regionally, all parts of Minnesota are in better shape than they were in late November and early December. Case counts had crept up across the state during April, but the trend is clearly on the slide.