ST. PAUL -- Stearns has surpassed Nobles as the county with the second most confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the state. The Minnesota Department of Health says Stearns has 1,161 confirmed cases with four deaths.

County and state officials have said repeatedly that the number of confirmed cases in the county is going up because they are testing more, due to outbreaks at the Pilgrim's Pride plant in Cold Spring and the Jennie-O Plant in Melrose.

Nobles has 1,153 confirmed cases. Hennepin has the most with 2,962.

Sherburne County is at 88 cases with one death, and Benton is at 64 cases with one death.

The state's death toll from the virus is up to 508 with 23 new deaths.

The number of new positive cases Wednesday was 786, bringing the total to 9,365.

The number of people no longer in isolation is up by 303 with the total at 5,308. (Those figures include both people who have recovered as well as people who have died).

There were 4,189 completed tests Wednesday.

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