Low county vaccine rates raise COVID-19 variant concerns in Minnesota

COVID-19 rates remained slightly elevated in a handful of Minnesota counties with fewer vaccinations against the infectious disease, according to a weekly state pandemic report released Thursday.

Among the 10 counties with COVID-19 rates of 5 per 10,000 people or higher in the week ending June 5, none had vaccination rates that were above the state average - underscoring Gov. Tim Walz's concern that some regions could be breeding grounds for more infectious variants of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

"We still have pockets of relatively low vaccination rates in parts of the state and country," he said last week during a public appearance to promote vaccination. "Those pockets are starting to see an increase in some of those variants that showed up in India and some of those places."

https://www.startribune.com/low-county-vaccine-rates-raise-covid-19-variant-concerns-in-minnesota/600069422/