Minnesota COVID-19 deaths top 9,000 as new cases soar

FILE - A health worker administers a dose of a Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine during a vaccination clinic at the Reading Area Community College in Reading, Pa., Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2021. The fate of President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate for larger private employers may come down to a lottery that determines which federal circuit court will consider the matter. Conservative groups have filed challenges to the rule in right-leaning courts, while unions that argue the rule doesn’t go far enough have done so in left-leaning courts. The multiple cases are expected to be consolidated, and it will be up to a random drawing – expected on Tuesday, Nov. 16 -- to determine where that will be. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Minnesota’s COVID-19 death toll has eclipsed 9,000 people, as the state struggles with the nation’s highest rate of new infections and low vaccination rates in certain areas.
The Minnesota Department of Health on Tuesday reported 51 new deaths, which raised the state’s pandemic total to 9,047. It also reported 10,913 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, which pushed the state’s pandemic total to 857,791. Minnesota’s rate of new infections has been the worst in the nation over the past week, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The state’s seven-day rolling average of positive tests reached 10.3%, putting it into the high-risk category for the first time since last winter.