Walz to provide update on vaccine distribution in Minnesota

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Gov. Tim Walz and Department of Health officials are planning to provide an update Tuesday on how COVID-19 vaccinations are being distributed in Minnesota, on a day when the state's coronavirus case count topped the 400,000 mark.

Minnesota began giving the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to healthcare workers last week after it received emergency approval earlier this month. The state’s initial shipment last week contained 46,800 doses, and state health officials said earlier that they expect to receive more than 33,000 this week.

Also Monday, CVS Health announced that it will begin vaccinating more than 63,000 long-term care residents and workers across Minnesota next week.

Health officials reported 1,714 new infections and 24 deaths on Tuesday to raise the state's totals to 401,011 cases and 4,896 deaths.

According to The COVID Tracking Project, the seven-day rolling average of daily new cases in Minnesota and the state's positivity rate continued to decrease over the past two weeks. Hospitalizations across the state have trended downward as well.

But even with the declining numbers, state health officials are urging people to continue taking precautions and restrict group gatherings. They say large gatherings over the holidays could cause another surge in cases.