Photo by Deb Gau Analisa Buysse prepared to give Marlys Deutz a dose of COVID-19 vaccine Tuesday afternoon at GuidePoint in Marshall. Area pharmacies and health care providers said are preparing for a new wave of vaccine recipients, after announcements from the state this week.

MARSHALL — Minnesota has passed the goal of vaccinating 70% of its senior citizens against COVID-19, and that means the state will be opening up vaccine eligibility to more people, Gov. Tim Walz said.

“Now we can accelerate, and that was our hope,” Walz said in a Tuesday press conference.

Starting today, people with underlying medical conditions, and essential employees including food processing, agricultural and manufacturing workers, will also be eligible to receive vaccines.

While vaccine supplies are still limited, area health providers said it’s a big step forward.

“This is huge, that we are moving in to this next phase,” said Carol Biren, public health director with Southwest Health and Human Services. She said SWHHS was planning to focus first on working with very high-risk populations and with food production workers.

Walz said targeting food plant workers in the next wave of vaccinations will help a group of Minnesotans who were severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Outbreaks in meat processing plants were among some of the largest Minnesota saw last year, and affected populations including many people of color and people living in multi-generational households, said Minnesota Department of Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm.

Malcolm explained that Minnesota would be moving ahead with the next two phases of its vaccination plan at the same time. The first tier, which will have a higher priority in getting vaccine appointments, includes food processing plant workers and a smaller group of people who are especially vulnerable to COVID-19 because of certain medical conditions. That includes people with sickle cell disease, Down syndrome, people who are undergoing cancer treatment or are immunocompromised from an organ transplant, and people who are dependent on oxygen for heart and lung conditions.

Malcolm said the next priority tier of people eligible for the vaccine includes people age 45 and older with one or more underlying medical condition, people age 16 and older with two or more underlying conditions, and people age 50 and older who live in multi-generational housing. Essential workers in a variety of fields will also be eligible, including workers in agriculture, corrections, food service and grocery stores, manufacturing, public transit and the postal service.

While both tiers will be eligible to receive vaccines, people in the second tier should wait to hear from the state’s online Vaccine Connector, their health provider or employer before trying to make an appointment. She urged Minnesotans to sign up with the Vaccine Connector to learn when they might be eligible for COVID-19 vaccine.

Vaccine supplies are still an issue as the state moves on to the next phase in its vaccination plan, Walz said.

“There is still a much higher demand than supply, but the supply is increasing,” Walz said.

On a local level, vaccine availability will also help determine how quickly the next tiers of people get their COVID shots, area health providers said. Avera Marshall communications coordinator Stacy Neubeck said Avera Marshall will be sharing updated information on vaccine appointments when the medical center gets its next shipment of vaccines.

The news of expanded vaccine eligibility came on the same day that southwest Minnesota saw a spike in reported COVID-19 deaths, due to a backlog of unreported data. On Tuesday, the Minnesota Department of Health reported 140 deaths statewide — a stark contrast to the lower case numbers being reported in recent weeks.

However, the MDH said those deaths occurred over the past year, and not in one day. In an audit of private labs, MDH epidemiologists identified 891 COVID-19 cases and 138 deaths that went unreported, in violation of a state rule. In a Tuesday situation update, the MDH said the newly identified COVID deaths would look like a one-day spike in state reporting data.

The newly reported deaths include one Lyon County resident, a person in their 70s, and seven residents of Redwood County. The Redwood County residents included two people over 100, one person in their 70s, three people in their 80s and one person in their 90s.

With the new data, Lyon County has now had 3,041 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 46 deaths since the start of the pandemic. Redwood County has had a total of 1,438 confirmed cases and 34 deaths.