Five out of the six “newly reported” COVID deaths for Minnesota were actually from February. The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) heralded Monday as having the highest number of newly reported deaths in the last two months. A tweet, from a person who analyzes the Minnesota data showed the specific dates that the “newly reported” deaths were from.
8/2/2021 – MDH Reports 6 new deaths
Date of Deaths:
1 – 2/12/2021
1 – 2/13/2021
3 – 2/15/2021
1 – 7/22/2021— MNData (@mn_data) August 2, 2021
According to the MDH website, “deaths are represented by the date of death. Deaths are added as they are reported and verified. This is why there is a lag for the dates shown in the table.” The death dates were found by discovering where the numbers were updated in the Minnesota COVID cases dashboard.
The dashboard keeps track of the dates when COVID patients died. The Minnesota Department of Health continues to retroactively add deaths, as they are verified, on the dates that the deaths occurred. When comparing the data from the previous day to the data for Monday, used in the press conference, the deaths cited were from February 12, February 13, and February 15. The sixth death was logged as occurring on July 22.
These six “newly reported” deaths were discussed in the Monday COVID briefing with the Minnesota Department of Health. Representative Jeremy Munson said in a Facebook post regarding the incident, “All [deaths] were in long term care facilities. When asked if any or all were vaccinated, Jan Malcom refused to answer.”
Munson also questioned how Health Commissioner Jan Malcom pushed Minnesotans to get the vaccine, emphasizing the $100 given per shot. Malcom said that if a family of five went in and took the vaccine, they would receive $500. Munson asked if that was being tracked and said, “what happens if a family of five gets jabbed every day next week for $3,500.”
Health Commissioner Jan Malcom said in the Monday COVID briefing that “this is a very opportunistic virus. It finds our weak spots and takes advantage of them, in a way we haven’t seen many viruses do in recent decades.”
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Hayley Tschetter is a reporter with The Minnesota Sun | Star News Network. She graduated with a degree in Communications from the University of Northwestern-St. Paul. Send news tips to [email protected].
