Updated: 3:48 p.m.
Minnesota officials on Wednesday reported another 75 COVID-19 deaths, extending an already dreadful December and making it a near-certainty that the state will reach a brutal milestone 5,000 total deaths by week’s end, and probably by Thursday.
At the same time, other key COVID-19 metrics continue to offer definite signs of hope. New daily caseloads are retreating from their late November, early December peaks.
The Health Department posted 1,513 newly confirmed or probable COVID-19 cases, part of more than a week of relatively moderate new caseloads and the lowest in two months. An expected surge from Thanksgiving gatherings hasn’t surfaced.