2023 Highlights
- 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.