Four more Central Minnesotans die; week's local COVID-19 toll reaches 26

Four St. Cloud-area residents died from COVID-19 and 401 more Central Minnesota cases were confirmed Friday, according to Saturday's report from the Minnesota Department of Health. 

One Benton County resident in their late 70s died, as did a Stearns County resident in their late 70s, a Stearns County resident in their early 80s and a Stearns County resident in their late 80s. No Sherburne County residents were reported Saturday to have died from COVID-19.

Of the 51 new deaths reported statewide, the three youngest were people 45-49 years old and three oldest were older than 100. 

In Benton County, 50 more people have confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 10 are probable cases. Sherburne County has 112 new confirmed cases and 26 probable, and Stearns County has 188 new confirmed cases and 15 probable.

Statewide, another 51 Minnesotans died from COVID-19 and 6,265 more people have tested positive for the disease, according to MDH.

The number of people who tested positive for COVID-19 reached 262,952 cases on Saturday and 3,201 people have died, according to MDH. 

Since the start of the pandemic, 14,695 people have required hospitalization in the state.

According to MDH, 211,513 coronavirus patients no longer need isolation.

Globally, there are almost 57.8 million cases of COVID-19, including more than 11.9 million million in the U.S., according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Research Center. Almost 1.4 million people have died of the infection worldwide, including 254,560 people in the U.S.

Sarah Kocher is the business reporter for the St. Cloud Times. Reach her at 320-255-8799 or skocher@stcloudtimes.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahAKocher.

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