Minnesota's COVID-19 case rate falls as delta wave surges in the Northeast

• COVID-19 hospitalizations and cases continue to decline in Minnesota, according to a data update Friday, but the state still has a high level of coronavirus transmission and little critical care capacity to treat the sickest patients. Health officials on Thursday warned that Minnesota hospitals are swamped and that any further uptick in viral transmissions and patients could overwhelm them. COVID and non-COVID patients took up all but 18 of 1,012 available adult ICU beds on Thursday.