North Dakota COVID-19 hospitalizations remain high; state reports another 8 deaths – Grand Forks Herald

North Dakota has now marked 1,698 COVID-19 deaths, of which 72 have occurred this October alone, according to the Department of Health.

*The Department of Health often amends the number of active cases after they are first reported.

Cass County, which encompasses Fargo, had the most known active cases on Wednesday with 705 cases. Burleigh County, which includes Bismarck, had 455 active cases, and Stark County, which includes Dickinson, had 361.

Adolescents under 20 years of age encompassed 28% of North Dakota's active COVID-19 cases. As of Wednesday, children under 12, an age group that is not yet eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, accounted for 614 of the state's active cases.

The state's 14-day rolling average positivity rate was 7.21% as of Tuesday, Oct. 19.

As of Tuesday, there were 13 available staffed ICU beds statewide, according to a Department of Health database. Bismarck's two hospitals had zero staffed ICU beds available among them and Fargo's three hospitals had a total of seven open staffed ICU beds.

The vast majority of North Dakotans who are hospitalized because of COVID-19 are unvaccinated. As of Tuesday, 75% of the people currently hospitalized in the state were not fully vaccinated, according to the Department of Health. Ninety percent of people in the ICU had not received the COVID-19 vaccine.

The Department of Health no longer releases demographic data about North Dakota's COVID-19 deaths, such as age and gender. Wednesday's eight reported deaths included three residents of Ward County, two from Burleigh County and one each from Williams, Stark and Grand Forks County.

FIRST DOSE ADMINISTERED*: 374,707 (56.3% of population ages 12 and up)

FULL VACCINE COVERAGE*: 349,703 (52.5% of population ages 12 and up)

*These figures come from the state's vaccine dashboard, though the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which includes vaccinations performed at federal sites, reports slightly higher vaccination rates.

North Dakota still ranks in the bottom 10 in vaccination rate in the U.S., according to the CDC.

The Department of Health encourages individuals to get information about vaccines at http://www.health.nd.gov/covidvaccinelocator.

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Readers can reach reporter Michelle Griffith, a Report for America corps member, at mgriffith@forumcomm.com.

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North Dakota COVID-19 hospitalizations remain high; state reports another 8 deaths - Grand Forks Herald