MDH Reports Rise In Vaccine Breakthrough Cases, Reopens Testing Sites
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) - There has been a rise in COVID-19 breakthrough cases among fully vaccinated Minnesotans.
Back in May and June, the state was seeing just under 10% of weekly cases as vaccine breakthroughs. But now, the Minnesota Department of Health says that as of Aug. 22, 29% of COVID-19 cases in Minnesota were breakthroughs.
MDH says it's happening because more people are getting vaccinated, so more of the cases will be among vaccinated people. They also say more fully-vaccinated people are returning to normal activities as if the pandemic is over, which is leading to more exposure.
MDH added that no vaccine is 100% effective, and the Delta variant is more transmissible.
In an effort to minimize spread of the Delta variant, more mass testing sites are opening up in the metro area.
The Roy Wilkins Auditorium in St. Paul is once again a semi-permanent COVID-19 testing site. It just reopened on Tuesday, in an effort to meet the demand of more testing sites as students and teachers return to school and more people move to indoor activities going into the fall and winter.
The testing site will be open Monday through Thursday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. It will also be open on Sundays between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. The other metro mass testing site will be at the Bloomington DMV, which opened on Monday and will be operating Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Recently, a new report from the Mayo Clinic found certain monoclonal antibody treatments can help patients who are normally at high risk for serious COVID-19 illness due to other health conditions have more mild-to-moderate symptoms,
In the study, the majority of patients who received the antibody treatment were less likely to be hospitalized.