COVID-19 collapse continues in North Dakota; CDC updates county-level risk data | Health

That hasn’t happened since the middle of last summer, before the delta and omicron variant waves swept over the state.

Confirmed cases of COVID-19 were hovering around 1,000 per day just a month ago, as omicron crested. The surge is now bottoming out, with fewer than 1,000 cases total reported in the past 10 days. The state’s 14-day rolling test positivity rate has declined from nearly 20% to about 4% in less than six weeks. The state target is less than 5%.

Active cases of COVID-19 on Monday were at 400, about one-third what they were at the start of March. There were just 97 active cases in Burleigh-Morton counties, according to the Health Department’s coronavirus dashboard.

COVID-19 hospitalizations were at 52 statewide. The two hospitals in Bismarck had a total of 12 staffed inpatient hospital beds available and five intensive care unit beds open.

The Health Department on Monday didn’t report any virus-related deaths, but it did report six over the weekend. The state no longer publicly reports the county, sex and age range of newly confirmed deaths. The dashboard death total for Burleigh County increased by one, to 301. Morton County’s total was unchanged, at 142.

There have been 238,784 confirmed COVID-19 cases in North Dakota during the pandemic that began two years ago this month, with 236,173 recoveries, 7,818 hospitalizations and 2,211 deaths.

The state case data includes only clinically verified tests. Results of in-home tests are not required to be reported to the state and are thus not included in the totals.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has updated its information on county-level COVID-19 risks.

The CDC determines the risk level based on COVID-19 case numbers, hospital admissions and available beds. The new information is at https://bit.ly/3Clifrq. It will be updated every Thursday.

As of last Thursday, more than 90% of the U.S. population was in a location with a low or medium risk level. The other 10% was in a high risk area.

Burleigh and Morton counties are considered at medium risk, as is most of central North Dakota. Much of the rest of the state is considered at low risk, with pockets of high risk in the southwest and northeast.

Federal data shows 65.2% of adults in North Dakota being fully vaccinated. The rate for all vaccine-eligible people in the state — age 5 and older — is 58.7%. The national averages are 75.1% and 69.2%, respectively. COVID-19 booster shots are recommended for people 12 and older. North Dakota’s booster rate is 41.6%, compared to 45.6% nationally.

Go to https://www.ndvax.org or call 866-207-2880 to see where COVID-19 vaccine is available. Information on free public testing and free test kits is at health.nd.gov/covidtesting. More detailed pandemic information is at www.health.nd.gov/coronavirus and https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html.