A resident in Winona County and another in Fillmore County have died of swine flu, Minnesota Department of Health officials reported Wednesday afternoon.

The Winona County resident in his or her 70s and the Fillmore County resident in his or her 20s each had underlying medical conditions, said John Stine, MDH assistant commissioner for health protection during the department's weekly flu briefing. Officials did not release the identities or genders of the two people.

Winona Health officials said they could not comment on whether either of the deaths occurred at the Winona hospital.

The two local deaths are among three new Minnesota deaths attributed to swine flu, Stine said. A fourth death of an older adult is likely linked to the H1N1 virus, but a sample was never collected to test for swine flu, officials said.

The three confirmed swine flu deaths raises the tally to 15 people who have died from the virus since it was first identified in Minnesota, according to the MDH Web site. The three recently confirmed deaths likely occurred within the past three weeks, but officials declined to provide specifics on when each person died.

Flu activity statewide last week decreased slightly from previous levels but remains elevated, state statistics show.

"We currently do have a number of indicators that influenza-like activity is going down," said Dr. Ruth Lynfield, state epidemiologist, though she noted that flu activity in certain segments of Minnesota may not reflect statewide trends.

The number of Minnesota schools reporting outbreaks of influenza-like illness was more than halved, dropping from 288 schools the previous week to 137 last week. That trend was reflected in Winona County, where six schools reported outbreaks last week, compared to 12 the prior week.

Those statistics don't differentiate between swine flu and more common strains, but "about 99 percent of influenza activity at this time is H1N1," Lynfield said.

Doses of the swine flu vaccine continue to flow into the state. Nearly 500,000 doses have been received, about 20 percent of the supply needed to vaccinate the state's 2.7 million at-risk residents, Stine said. "So we are seeing signs of progress, but it does take time," he said.

Stine is "cautiously optimistic" that Minnesota will receive enough vaccine for school-based clinics, where children under the age of 9 can be vaccinated, to start in the next four to six weeks, he said.

Officials will then focus on vaccinating children between 9 and 18 years old and other remaining at-risk residents before making supplies available to all residents, officials said. Eventually, all Minnesota residents should have an opportunity to get a dose, Stine said. "There will be enough vaccine for everyone who wants to be vaccinated to do so."