On Tuesday, for the first time in over a year, the state of Minnesota Department of Health recorded fewer than 100 new cases of COVID-19. Only 95 new cases were reported for the first time since April 2020. And the state reported only one additional death.

Lyon County has been seeing similar results. The last new case of COVID in the county was reported on June 7. There have been zero new cases since then.

This is happening as the number of vaccinations continues to rise — not as rapidly as some would like, but still rising. About two-thirds of Minnesotans 16 and older have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine. In Brown County, 13,572 have received one dose as of Sunday, and 12,988 have received both doses. That’s about half of the county’s population.

It would seem clear that as the number of vaccinations goes up, the number of new cases has been falling. We’d like to see this trend continue.