Here is Minnesota's COVID-19 update for Friday, February 26
Friday's COVID update from the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) includes 1,147 new cases and 12 new deaths.
The newly reported deaths brings the state's total to 6,462 over the course of the pandemic.
Of the total deaths, 62.7% (4,046) were residents of long-term care, including five of the latest 12 deaths.
Through Feb. 24, the state reported that 804,716 people have received at least 1 dose of the COVID-19 vaccine while 405,922 people have completed both doses of vaccine that are required for the vaccines' maximum effect.
MDH has a public dashboard to track vaccine progress in Minnesota, and you can view it here.
Hospitalizations
Through Feb. 25, the number of people with COVID-19 hospitalized in Minnesota was 263 – down from 265 a day earlier.
Of those hospitalized, 60 are in intensive care and 203 are receiving non-ICU treatment.
Testing and positivity rates
The 1,147 positive results in Friday's update were from 39,601 completed tests, creating a daily test positivity rate of 2.89%.
According to Johns Hopkins University, Minnesota's test positivity rate over the past seven days is 3.26%.
The World Health Organization recommends that a percent positive rate (total positives divided by total completed tests) of below 5% for at least two weeks is necessary to safely reopen the economy. That 5% threshold is based on total positives divided by total tests.
Coronavirus in Minnesota by the numbers
- Total tests: 7,289,410 (up from 7,249,977)
- People tested: 3,453,214 (up from 3,442,907)
- People with at least 1 vaccine shot: 804,716 (up from 783,214)
- People with 2 vaccine shots: 405,922 (up from 386,256)
- Positive cases: 482,978 (up from 481,831)
- Deaths: 6,462 – 270 of which are "probable*" (up from 6,450)
- Patients no longer requiring isolation: 469,149
* Probable deaths are patients who died after testing positive using the COVID-19 antigen test, which is thought to be less accurate than the more common PCR test.
