By MRP News Staff

Minnesota’s COVID-19 case total climbed by nearly 2,000 over the weekend, with state health officials reporting 1,032 more confirmed cases on Saturday and 934 on Sunday — both among the highest single-day totals on record in the state.

The number of new cases reported each day has been trending upward in the past couple weeks after falling earlier in the month. The percentage of tests coming back positive has also been trending up.

That drew the attention of White House coronavirus response coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx, who was in Minnesota on Sunday. Birx noted to reporters that there’s a “worrisome trend” here because Minnesota now has nine counties where the rate of positive cases detected in tests now tops 10 percent, up from just a couple not long ago.

The highest single-day case increase on record in Minnesota was last Thursday, when the Minnesota Department of Health reported 1,158 new cases. That day’s report was skewed by the addition of results from a backlog at one Twin Cities testing lab.

But state health officials said Saturday’s 1,032 confirmed cases did not include any of those backlogged results. It was not immediately clear whether any of the backlog was reflected in Sunday’s report.

The upward trend has created heightened concern among health officials as students head back to schools, colleges and universities across the state.

Meanwhile the state reported two more deaths on Sunday, one involving a resident of a long-term care facility. The number of Minnesotans hospitalized with COVID-19 climbed slightly, as did the number of those patients being treated in ICUs.

Here are the latest coronavirus statistics in Minnesota:

• 75,189 cases confirmed (934 new) via 1,478,432 tests (18,051 new)
• 1,816 deaths (two new)
• 6,454 cases requiring hospitalization
• 315 currently hospitalized; 136 in intensive care
• 66,916 patients no longer needing isolation