On Wednesday, Dec. 16, the North Dakota Department of Health reported a net decrease in hospitalizations of 117 individuals. Hospitalizations in our state have fallen rapidly in the past few weeks, and while much of this difference reflects newly discharged cases, part of this drop reflects a quality control effort as case workers catch up with these changes following a recent surge in cases.
Of the 146 hospitalizations whose status was changed from current to discharged, 74 had been discharged in the past two weeks and the remainder were discharged prior to Dec. 1. This was due to a variety of factors, including case managers catching up with follow-up work after a surge of new cases in November; lags in reporting between when patients were actually discharged from facilities to when the NDDoH was notified of the discharges through the Health Information Network; and inconsistent data entry.
“The team took time yesterday to verify every individual currently marked as hospitalized and found a number who had been previously discharged,” said Disease Control Director Kirby Kruger. “In the future, the team will be working more actively with facilities to ensure the information is up to date and accurate and will continue to check the Health Information Network daily for hospitalization information.”
BY THE NUMBERS
4,917 – Total Tests from Yesterday*
1,242,239 – Total tests completed since the pandemic began
304 – Positive Individuals from Yesterday*****
242 – PCR Tests | 62 antigen tests
88,686 – Total positive individuals since the pandemic began
5.37% – Daily Positivity Rate**
2,956 - Total Active Cases
-274 Individuals from Yesterday
540 – Individuals Recovered from Yesterday (410 with a recovery date of yesterday****)
84,535 – Total recovered since the pandemic began
160 – Currently Hospitalized
-117 - Individuals from yesterday
See message above.
24 – New Deaths*** (1,194 total deaths since the pandemic began)
INDIVIDUALS WHO DIED WITH COVID
- Woman in her 80s from Adams County.
- Woman in her 80s from Benson County.
- Man in his 50s from Burleigh County.
- Man in his 80s from Burleigh County.
- Man in his 90s from Burleigh County.
- Woman in her 90s from Burleigh County.
- Woman in her 90s from Burleigh County.
- Man in his 60s from Cass County.
- Man in his 60s from Cass County.
- Woman in her 90s from Cass County.
- Man in his 70s from Dunn County.
- Man in his 60s from Eddy County.
- Man in his 80s from Logan County.
- Woman in her 90s from Pierce County.
- Woman in her 40s from Ramsey County.
- Man in his 60s from Ramsey County.
- Man in his 80s from Ransom County.
- Woman in her 80s from Stark County.
- Woman in her 80s from Stark County.
- Woman in her 100s from Traill County.
- Woman in her 90s from Ward County.
- Woman in her 90s from Ward County.
- Woman in her 90s from Ward County.
- Woman in her 80s from Williams County.
COUNTIES WITH NEW POSITIVE CASES REPORTED TODAY
- Barnes County – 3
- Benson County – 3
- Bottineau County – 3
- Bowman County - 3
- Burleigh County - 34
- Cass County – 72
- Cavalier County - 2
- Dickey County – 8
- Divide County – 2
- Dunn County – 1
- Eddy County - 1
- Emmons County – 1
- Foster County – 1
- Golden Valley County - 1
- Grand Forks County – 23
- Griggs County – 1
- Kidder County - 1
- LaMoure County – 3
- McHenry County – 2
- McIntosh County - 1
- McKenzie County - 9
- McLean County – 3
- Mercer County - 3
- Morton County – 10
- Mountrail County – 1
- Nelson County - 3
- Oliver County - 2
- Ramsey County – 6
- Ransom County – 3
- Renville County - 1
- Richland County - 14
- Rolette County – 11
- Sargent County - 1
- Sioux County – 2
- Stark County – 10
- Steele County - 2
- Stutsman County – 15
- Traill County – 5
- Walsh County - 3
- Ward County – 18
- Wells County - 3
- Williams County – 13
* Note that this includes PCR tests and does not include individuals from out of state.
**Individuals who tested positive divided by the total number of people tested who have not previously tested positive (susceptible encounters). Antigen tests (positive or negative) are not included in the calculation.
*** Number of individuals who tested positive with a PCR or antigen test and died from any cause while infected with COVID-19. Please remember that deaths are reported as they’re reported to us by the facility or through the official death record (up to 10-day delay).
**** The actual date individuals are officially out of isolation and no longer contagious.
*****Daily positive numbers include people who tested with a PCR or antigen test. Totals may be adjusted as individuals are found to live out of state, in another county, or as other information is found during investigation.