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COVID-19 cases, driven by the delta variant, continue to rise throughout the state, including a spike Tuesday reflecting over 3,000 new cases.

The Minnesota Department of Health reported 3,054 new cases of COVID-19 (2,692 confirmed and 362 probable cases) along with three new deaths.

Mower County, which had been seeing double-digit cases hovering near 20 a day in recent days, reported 42 new cases Tuesday (41 confirmed, 1 probable).

However, Pam Kellogg, Community Health Division Manager for Mower County Health and Human Services, said that the jump in numbers represents a backlog in cases due to MDH not conducting reports over the weekend.

“MDH is not reporting over the weekends so Mondays and Tuesday tend to report high,” Kellogg said. “Public Health tends to look at weekly rates instead of daily because those daily rates can really throw you off.”

Mower County has just under 5,000 cumulative cases as it hovers at 4,978 cases and 34 deaths.

As numbers continue to rise in southeast Minnesota, they remain relatively low compared to numbers last fall.

Although this latest report comes just days after the Mower County Fair wrapped up, Kellogg said that when looking at other fairs in the area, there hasn’t been a significant rise.

“In general, the southeast region has not seen a spike in cases the week following the county fair and we are predicting our county to follow what other counties have already experienced,” Kellogg said.