Sherburne County was recently identified as having the state’s lowest COVID-19 vaccine rate. As of March 4, at least 948,127 people in Minnesota have received a first shot of Moderna or Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, and 500,188 of them have completed the two-dose series.

Benton County is the nest lowest county at 12.8% for recipients of at least one dose compared the Sherburne County’s 11.6%. The state percentage is at 19.3%.

Cook County (one of the state’s oldest counties, according to census data) has the state’s highest vaccination rate: 44.2% of residents who have received their first dose, according to Minnesota Department of Health data as of Saturday.

So, why is Sherburne County the state’s lowest?

Some speculate it is because the region has no major health care system while others say it is because of lack of accessibility. One doctor, George Morris of CentraCare said it could be because of Sherburne County’s “independent mindset”.

“I don’t want to call it red and blue, Democrat [and] Republican,” Morris said. “It’s a little bit of: I don’t want people to tell me what to do.”

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as of March 17, Sherburne County is at a very high risk level for contracting the cornavirus. The reason is because there was an average of 20 daily cases per 100,000 people reported in the past two weeks. The risk in Sherburne County will decrease to high risk if the daily case rate drops to less than about 11.4 cases per 100,000 people and the test positivity stays low.

A county’s risk level is determined based on the number of reported cases and testing data. Although county risk levels are assigned based on expert guidance and careful analysis, it is possible that the risk level in a specific county may be over or underestimated because of a lack of reliable data.

In some cases, a county might not have a risk level if not enough recent data was available, or if inconsistencies were found in the data. If a county’s recent testing data was not available, the rate of positive tests in the state was used, along with recent cases, to calculate the risk level.

Over the past two weeks, an average of 19 cases per day were reported in Sherburne County, a 93 percent increase from the average two weeks ago. Since the beginning of the pandemic, at least one in 11 residents have been infected, a total of 9,025 reported cases.

Nov. 2020 was the worst month for cases in Sherburne County.

An average of 90 percent of I.C.U. beds were occupied in the area as of March 11. The trend in deaths tends to lag weeks behind the trend in reported cases: Cases have recently increased in Sherburne, which could mean a rise in deaths will follow.

Cases have increased recently in Anoka; Stearns; Wright; Benton; Isanti; and Mille Lacs Counties.

A few anomalies occurred this past year in reports from the state including no new cases or deaths on the Fourth of July holiday. Minnesota began including probable cases identified through antigen testing in October of 2020 and the state reported data for two days after reporting no data on Thanksgiving (Nov. 28). On March 9 of 2021, Minnesota announced many cases and deaths from the past year that were previously unreported.

Two large medical providers expanded eligibility criteria March 4 for vaccination against COVID-19 in Minnesota, which has reported 6,521 deaths and 487,374 diagnosed infections with the novel corona-virus that causes the infectious disease.

The totals include 14 more deaths and 949 infections reported March 4 by the Minnesota Department of Health.

Gov. Tim Walz three weeks ago unveiled a vaccine timetable for Minnesota that gradually expanded eligibility to nonelderly adults with chronic health problems and front-line essential workers — before getting to the rest of the general public by summer. That timetable could be accelerated now — with the original scheduling not factoring in the availability of a third vaccine.

The state has been prioritizing limited quantities of vaccine mostly for health care workers, long-term care residents, educators and people 65 and older.

State officials remain concerned about the emergence of more infectious variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19. Genomic sequencing has now identified 112 cases of COVID-19 in Minnesota involving a more infectious B.1.1.7 variant first found in the United Kingdom.