794 North Dakotans are now known to be infected with the virus, 20 fewer than Monday’s high number of active cases of the pandemic.
North Dakota has seen COVID-19 infections increase in the past month, with active cases tripling across the state, but unlike Florida, Texas, and other major virus spots, North Dakota is among the top states. in per capita tests and the rate of positive tests has not shot up.
About 2.2% of the 3,739 test results announced Tuesday were positive, but more than half of the tests were conducted on those who had previously been screened for the disease. Johns Hopkins University, which calculates the rate of positive results using only those tested for the first time, found that an average of 5.7% of North Dakota residents tested in the past week returned positive results. The state does not regularly report a seven-day moving average for the positivity rate.
Department spokeswoman Nicole Peske told the Forum News Service that the agency does not have “a simple way” to provide the exact daily positivity rate for first-time test takers, despite Gov. Doug Burgum saying at a press conference earlier this month that the state tracks the metric.
Burgum said at the press conference that he did not believe the state was artificially lowering the positivity rate by including the results of tests from residents that were re-analyzed.
The department also announced Tuesday that a Cass County woman in her 90s died of the disease. Like almost all North Dakotans who have succumbed to the disease, the department reports that the woman had underlying health problems.
The department says 94 North Dakotans died from the disease, including 74 Cass County residents, which includes Fargo and West Fargo. Sixty-four of the deaths have occurred in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities.
There are still four deaths that remain in a “suspected positive” category, meaning that a medical professional determined that COVID-19 was a cause of death, but that the person was not tested for the disease while alive.
Fifteen of the new cases come from Grand Forks County, which has seen nearly 65 new infections announced in the past three days. The county now has 99 known active cases.
Another 15 of the new cases came from Burleigh County, which encompasses Bismarck. The county that has seen a steady increase in infections in the past month again has the most active cases in the state with 162.
Ten of the new cases come from Cass County, which topped Burleigh County in known active cases Monday, but now has fewer at 147.
Nine new cases came from Williams County, which encompasses Williston. The county has seen a dramatic increase in cases in the past two weeks after largely avoiding the worst of the pandemic for more than three months. The county now has 83 known active cases.
The other 33 new cases came from 16 different counties.
Forty-six residents are hospitalized with the disease, one less than on Monday. Burgum has frequently stated that North Dakota’s hospital capacity has never been questioned during the pandemic.
Burgum said the state has the ability to conduct at least 5,000 tests per day, and has urged residents to seek tests if they have symptoms or not. The state has hosted free mass testing events in the state’s largest metropolitan areas for more than a month.
A total of 5,207 North Dakota residents tested positive, but 4,319 recovered.
The state has announced the results of 266,690 tests, but many residents have been evaluated more than once.
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