COVID-19 wave appears to be in retreat as trends improve in Minnesota

High levels of immunity as a result of vaccinations or coronavirus infections this winter are reducing the severity of illness this spring, said Dr. Matthew Prekker, a critical care medicine specialist with Hennepin Healthcare in Minneapolis.

“The baseline risk in the population for getting so, so sick — that was there before we had widely-accepted vaccines — is much lower now,” he said. “We’re also dealing with less virulent but very transmissible COVID strains … Fortunately, we’re not seeing critical illness nearly as much as we were last year.”