Area counties report 99 new cases of COVID-19 over the weekend

Carolyn Lange, West Central Tribune, Willmar, Minn.
·2 min read

May 17—WILLMAR — There were 99 new cases of COVID reported over the weekend in the 11-county area.

Stearns County had a total of 54 cases, Kandiyohi County had 17 and Meeker County had 10 new cases.

Swift County had six new cases, Renville County had four new cases, Pope County had three, Redwood and Chippewa counties each had two and Yellow Medicine County had one new case.

Big Stone and Lac qui Parle counties had no new cases over the weekend.

Statewide there were a total of 13 deaths and 1,687 new cases of COVID reported over the two-day weekend.

RELATED: See CORONAVIRUS

The state's cumulative number of cases is now 594,427. Of the cumulative number of cases, 42,222 of them have been among health care workers.

The state's current total number of deaths attributed to COVID-19 is now at 7,296. Most of the deaths, 4,390, have occurred in long-term care or assisted living facilities, and 5,959 of the people who died were 70 or older.

The information was included in the latest daily situation update from the Minnesota Department of Health, released at 11 a.m. daily. The data released are current as of 4 p.m. the day before.

Since the start of the pandemic, the number of COVID-19 cases among residents confirmed to reside in area counties and the number of deaths includes:

*

Big Stone County: 600 cases; 4 deaths

*

Chippewa County: 1,524 cases; 38 deaths

*

Kandiyohi County: 6,573 cases; 83 deaths

*

Lac qui Parle County: 753 cases; 22 deaths

*

Meeker County: 2,573 cases; 40 deaths

*

Pope County: 1,109 cases; 6 deaths

*

Redwood County: 1,745 cases; 37 deaths

*

Renville County: 1,805 cases; 43 deaths

*

Stearns County: 22,293 cases; 221 deaths

*

Swift County: 1,058 cases; 18 deaths

*

Yellow Medicine County: 1,142 cases; 20 deaths

The state is now also reporting daily vaccine administration numbers. As of the latest report issued on Sunday, 2,722,944 people have received one dose and 2,325,495 have completed the vaccine series statewide.

According to the report, 61% of the state's population over the age of 16 have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. The percentage in area counties includes:

*

Big Stone: 66%

*

Chippewa: 52%

*

Kandiyohi: 50%

*

Lac qui Parle: 56%

*

Meeker: 46%

*

Pope: 55%

*

Redwood: 50%

*

Renville: 53%

*

Stearns: 53%

*

Swift: 57%

*

Yellow Medicine: 57%

The vaccine data web page is updated at 11 a.m. daily, but it can take up to 48 hours for data to be reported to the state and processed.

As a public service, we've opened this article to everyone regardless of subscription status. If this coverage is important to you, please consider supporting local journalism by clicking on the subscribe button in the upper right-hand corner of the homepage.