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Annual Summary of Disease Activity

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Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Prevention and Control Division
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Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Prevention and Control Division
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Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)  
Annual Summary of Reportable Diseases

COVID-19 is an acute respiratory illness caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). After it was first detected in December 2019, COVID-19 caused a massive global pandemic, impacting every country in the world and leading to a Public Health Emergency Declaration in the United States. Although the COVID-19 public health emergency in the U.S. ended in May 2023, transmission of SARS-CoV-2 persists, resulting in a substantial number of hospitalizations and deaths in Minnesota and beyond. COVID-19 is spread person-to-person via droplets and very small particles that an infected person exhales when they breathe or cough. Most people who contract COVID-19 develop a mild respiratory illness characterized by fever, cough, sore throat, runny nose, fatigue, headache, and loss of taste or smell but some people progress to more severe illness that can lead to trouble breathing, low oxygen levels, acute respiratory failure, sepsis, and organ failure and can lead to hospitalization or death. 

Published 5/6/2026

2024 Highlights

  • In 2024, a total of 86,935 (1,523 per 100,000) cases were reported. A total of 9,613 (168 per 100,000) cases were hospitalized and 1,174 (21 per 100,000) of those hospitalizations resulted in admission to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
  • There were 839 (15 per 100,000) deaths attributable to COVID-19 in 2024.
  • COVID-19 can be especially severe for elderly people, particularly those who live in congregate care settings. Out of approximately 2,500 assisted living (ALF) and skilled nursing facilities (SNF), a total of 797 (32%) facilities reported at least one COVID-19 case among either a resident or staff member in 2024.
  • Across all SLF/SNF facilities there were 16,932 cases among residents and staff 

Cases
n

Hospitalizations
n (% reported cases)

Intensive Care Unit
n (% of reported cases)

Deaths
n (% of reported cases)

86,935

9,613 (11.1%)

1,174 (1.4%)

839 (1.0%)

The SARS-CoV-2 virus can be categorized genetically into what are commonly referred to as variants. There have been several variants since COVID-19 was first detected but since late 2021/early 2022 only the Omicron variant has been detected worldwide. In 2024, the major Omicron variants detected in Minnesota were JN.1, KP.3.1.1, XEC, and KP.3 (excluding KP.3.1.1).

Case detection of COVID-19 is difficult because many people with mild symptoms do not seek testing and many choose to test using at-home tests that are not reported to the health department. As a result, the number of cases reported to MDH are likely an under detection of the true number of cases in Minnesota. In 2024, a total of 86,935 (1,523 per 100,000) cases were reported. A total of 9,613 (168 per 100,000) Minnesotans were hospitalized while infected with COVID-19. A total of 1,174 (21 per 100,000) Minnesotans were admitted to the ICU while infected with COVID-19. There were 839 (15 per 100,000) deaths attributable to COVID-19 in 2024. 

COVID-19 can be especially severe for elderly people, particularly those who live in congregate care settings. Out of approximately 2,500 assisted living (ALF) and skilled nursing facilities (SNF), a total of 797 (32%) facilities reported at least one COVID-19 case among either a resident or staff member in 2024. Across all ALF/SNF facilities, there were 16,932 reported cases: 10,772 (64%) among residents and 6,160 (36%) among staff.  

Note: COVID-19 staff case reporting in LTC facilities ended in October 2024; these numbers may not be comparable to the same data in previous DCN releases. 

Additional information about COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths in Minnesota over time can be found at Situation Update for COVID-19. 

More about Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)

For up to date information:

Archive of COVID-19 Summaries

  • In 2023, a total of 130,935 (2,294 per 100,000) cases were reported. Of these cases, 12,779 (224 per 100,000) were hospitalized and 1,838 (32 per 100,000) were admitted to the ICU.
  • There were 1,496 (26 per 100,000) deaths attributable to COVID-19 in 2023.
  • COVID-19 can be especially severe for elderly people, particularly those who live in congregate care settings. Out of approximately 2500 assisted living (ALF) and skilled nursing facilities (SNF), a total of 931 facilities reported at least one COVID-19 case among either a resident or staff member in 2023.

The SARS-CoV-2 virus frequently evolves into what are commonly referred to as variants. There have been several variants since COVID-19 was first detected but since late 2021/early 2022 only the Omicron variant has been detected worldwide. In 2023, the major Omicron variants detected in Minnesota were BQ.1, XBB.1.5, XBB.1.9, XBB.1.16, XBB.2.3, EG.5, HV.1, and JN.1.

Case detection of COVID-19 is difficult because many people with mild symptoms do not seek testing and many choose to test using at-home tests that are not reported to the health department. As a result, the number of cases reported to MDH are an under detection of the true number of cases in Minnesota. In 2023, a total of 130,935 (2,294 per 100,000) cases were reported. Of these cases, 12,779 (224 per 100,000) were hospitalized and 1,838 (32 per 100,000) were admitted to the ICU. There were 1,496 (26 per 100,000) deaths attributable to COVID-19 in 2023.  

COVID-19 can be especially severe for elderly people, particularly those who live in congregate care settings. Out of approximately 2500 assisted living (ALF) and skilled nursing facilities (SNF), a total of 931 facilities reported at least one COVID-19 case among either a resident or staff member in 2023. Across all SNF/ALF facilities there were 26,619 cases, 15,215 (57%) of which were among residents and 11,404 (43%) were among staff.

In addition, MDH conducted a more in-depth review of outbreaks occurring in SNF’s between July 2022 and June 2023. An outbreak was defined as any facility with 3 or more cases, at least one of which was in a resident, within consecutive weeks. Out of 358 SNF’s that reported at least one case, 333 (93%) experienced an outbreak. Most facilities reported multiple outbreaks, with the majority reporting 2 outbreaks over the analysis period. Outbreaks included, on average, 11 residents and 10 staff and lasted an average of 7-weeks. 

Additional information about COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths in Minnesota over time can be found at Situation Update for COVID-19. 

COVID-19 did not appear in the 2022-2018 Disease Control Newsletter Annual Summaries.

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Last Updated: 05/06/2026

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