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The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Minnesota jumped by more than 800 on Saturday — the biggest single-day increase in seven weeks.

Saturday’s update from the Minnesota Department of Health reported 806 new, confirmed cases. That’s the second-greatest single-day total on record in the state, behind 840 cases reported on May 23 — though testing has increased greatly since late May.

Minnesota reported four more deaths from COVID-19, all people who lived in long-term care facilities.

The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 in Minnesota increased to 241 on Saturday, up from 227 in Friday’s report — though still lower than the 251 reported on Thursday. The number of those patients being treated in ICUs dropped from 124 to 121 in Saturday’s report.

Around 5 percent of Minnesota’s more than 16,000 newly reported tests were positive Saturday. That’s a metric that health officials watch closely to see how widespread the disease is. The 5 percent figure is an increase from rates between 2.5 and 4 percent in mid June, when cases were declining. But it’s far below the state’s peak of more than 16 percent in May.

Cases have been trending upward in Minnesota for several weeks, in all parts of the state — but especially in the Twin Cities suburbs. Minnesota now has nearly 1,500 more active COVID-19 cases than it did in mid-June, according to data released Friday.

Earlier this week, for the first time, the suburban counties of Dakota, Washington, Anoka, Scott and Carver had about as many new cases per capita as Hennepin and Ramsey counties.

Asked Friday about the growing presence of COVID-19 cases in the suburbs, Kris Ehresmann, the state’s infectious disease director, said that while officials are seeing increases tied to bars and restaurants reopening and to house party activity in places like Edina, there was no single “hot spot answer” explaining the suburban surge.

In mid-June, the five suburban counties were averaging about 70 new cases per day. Over the past week, they’ve averaged 132 new cases per day, a nearly 90 percent increase.

Hennepin and Ramsey counties have also seen an increase in cases, to an average over the past week of 193 new cases in a larger population. But that’s a smaller increase of around 60 percent from the central counties’ rate in mid-June.

Also Friday, Ehresmann acknowledged that national laboratories were seeing delays in getting test results back to people, but she implored Minnesotans with COVID-19 symptoms to stay home and wait for the results before going out in public and possibly infecting others.

She also noted that the Health Department is getting reports of some people seeking out COVID-19 testing every couple of days.

“Testing is not a substitute for masking and social distancing,” Ehresmann told reporters. While health officials are encouraging people to get a test, “getting tested over and over again is not necessarily an appropriate use of that resource.”

Here are the latest coronavirus statistics: 

• 41,571 cases confirmed (806 new) via 742,095 tests
• 1,499 deaths (4 new)
• 4,366 cases requiring hospitalization
• 241 people remain hospitalized; 121 in intensive care
• 36,012 patients no longer needing isolation

South-central Minnesota cases

Freeborn County reported three new cases on Saturday, increasing its total cumulative count to 312. Of the total, 290 are out of isolation and 22 are considered active.

The Freeborn County Public Health Department reported the new cases included two people in their 40s and one person in their 70s.

Twenty-three people from Freeborn County have been hospitalized at some point during their illness, of which four remain hospitalized as of today.

Mower County reported eight new cases, increasing its total to 982; Steele County had two new cases, pushing its total to 245; and Waseca County had three new cases and has now had a cumulative total of 77 cases.

 

Confirmed COVID-19 cases

County	Cases	Deaths
Aitkin	15	0
Anoka	2,393	111
Becker	62	0
Beltrami	47	0
Benton	236	3
Big Stone	17	0
Blue Earth	563	2
Brown	44	2
Carlton	90	0
Carver	469	1
Cass	19	2
Chippewa	80	1
Chisago	107	1
Clay	612	38
Clearwater	12	0
Cook	1	0
Cottonwood	142	0
Crow Wing	113	12
Dakota	2,655	96
Dodge	96	0
Douglas	70	0
Faribault	61	0
Fillmore	35	0
Freeborn	312	0
Goodhue	140	8
Grant	25	0
Hennepin	13,328	790
Houston	32	0
Hubbard	10	0
Isanti	81	0
Itasca	71	12
Jackson	57	0
Kanabec	17	1
Kandiyohi	590	1
Kittson	2	0
Koochiching	21	1
Lac qui Parle	5	0
Lake	6	0
Lake of the Woods	0	0
Le Sueur	125	1
Lincoln	17	0
Lyon	333	2
McLeod	100	0
Mahnomen	10	1
Marshall	13	0
Martin	175	5
Meeker	62	1
Mille Lacs	39	2
Morrison	64	1
Mower	982	2
Murray	73	0
Nicollet	203	12
Nobles	1,684	6
Norman	21	0
Olmsted	1,259	20
Otter Tail	111	1
Pennington	53	0
Pine	112	0
Pipestone	69	4
Polk	88	3
Pope	13	0
Ramsey	5,169	232
Red Lake	4	0
Redwood	23	0
Renville	37	2
Rice	879	8
Rock	34	0
Roseau	25	0
St. Louis	223	16
Scott	858	4
Sherburne	362	5
Sibley	58	2
Stearns	2,496	19
Steele	245	1
Stevens	11	0
Swift	33	1
Todd	402	2
Traverse	6	0
Wabasha	38	0
Wadena	17	0
Waseca	77	0
Washington	1,255	41
Watonwan	267	0
Wilkin	22	3
Winona	141	15
Wright	528	5
Yellow Medicine	31	0
Unknown/missing	88	0