MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Minnesota on Saturday reported 54 deaths from COVID-19, along with 2,543 positive coronavirus tests, in its final reporting period of 2020.
The new numbers bring the state’s pandemic death toll to 5,377 people. A total of 417,832 cases of the coronavirus were detected since the pandemic began.
The Department of Health has reported a slow down in new cases, with the average number of daily new cases decreasing by 48% over the last two weeks. In that period, the state reported one of the nation’s lowest rates of new cases per capita, according to Johns Hopkins researchers.
Gov. Tim Walz has kept a ban on indoor dining in place through the holiday period, but some businesses defied that order for New Year’s celebrations.
The attorney general has sued one such bar, Alibi Drinkery in Lakeville, for repeated violations of the order. Despite a court injunction ordering it to close, people packed into the bar for a New Year’s party, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported.
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