Here is Minnesota's COVID-19 update for Friday, July 23

Friday's COVID-19 update from the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) includes 375 new cases and two new deaths. 

The state's death toll is 7,650 since the start of the pandemic. Of the total deaths, 58.8% (4,498) were residents of long-term care.

The figures released on Monday is based on data from Friday, with the weekend's figures due to be released on Tuesday, as MDH is no longer releasing data updates at weekends.

As of July 21, the state reported that 3,123,226 people have received at least 1 dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, while 2,973,775 people have completed their vaccine series.

The percentage of Minnesota's population with at least one shot, based on age group:

• 12-15: 40%
• 16-17: 51%
• 18-49: 58%
• 50-64: 72%
• 65+: 91%
• Total population: 56%

53.5% of Minnesota's total population, including children under the age of 12 who are not eligible for the vaccine, has completed the vaccine series. That jumps to 63.2% when excluding kids under the age of 12. MDH has a public dashboard to track vaccine progress in Minnesota, and you can view it here.

Hospitalizations

Through July 22, the number of people with COVID-19 hospitalized in Minnesota was 123 (up from 108 reported Thursday). Of those hospitalized, 34 people were in intensive care and 89 were receiving non-ICU treatment.

Hospital admissions involving COVID patients in Minnesota dropped to 223 on March 7 before rising to 699 on April 14. Since that mid-April peak the numbers have dropped, falling to 440 May 17 and now hovering around the 100 mark.

Testing and positivity rates

The 375 positive results in Friday's update were from 13,912 completed tests, creating a test positivity rate of 2.69%.

According to Johns Hopkins University, Minnesota's test positivity rate over the past seven days is 2.66%, which has been ticking up as the Delta variant spreads, having recently been below 1%.

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: 10,556,701 (up from 10,543,189)
• People tested: 4,555,288 (up from 4,549,184)
• People with at least 1 vaccine shot: 3,123,226 (up from 3,118,635)
• People who have completed vaccine series: 2,973,775 (up from 2,969,903)
• Positive cases: 609,387 (up from 609,016)
• Deaths: 7,650 – 423 of which are "probable*" (up from 7,648)
• Patients no longer requiring isolation: 599,466 (up from 599,352)

* 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.