Three of Minnesota’s eight regions — southeast, northeast and the metro area — are in the “yellow” range with around 90 percent of their I-C-U beds in use due to COVID-19 — and Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm says they’re watching that situation closely. “We have planned for this and have surge capacity available in the state,” Malcolm says. “The fact that a couple of our hospitals have already gone into that surge space… is important to note and gives us reason to be really, really watching.”
Lowest I-C-U use is in west-central Minnesota at 40 percent. Southwest, south-central and central Minnesota are all at just under 50 percent I-C-U utilization. Northwest Minnesota has just under 60 percent of I-C-U beds in use.