New reports of COVID-19 cases are higher than they were at the beginning of the month in Wisconsin, based on the latest data published by the state Department of Health Services. This comes as the Wisconsin Supreme Court struck down the governor’s ability to issue repeated emergency declarations related to the COVID-19 pandemic, immediately ending the statewide mask mandate.
DHS reported 563 new cases of the disease Wednesday, bringing the average for the past seven days to 470 daily cases. The average has been rising slightly since early March, when it was below 400.
There were 16,976 negative tests reported Wednesday. DHS tweeted that the high number of negative tests is due to late reporting into the surveillance system.
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As COVID-19 cases in Wisconsin remain significantly lower than they were at the beginning of the year, more of the state’s residents are being vaccinated against the disease.
A total of 2,813,475 doses of the coronavirus vaccine have been administered in Wisconsin as of Wednesday, with 58.4 percent of Wisconsinites age 65 and up fully vaccinated.
As of Wednesday, 1,040,039 people in Wisconsin, or 17.9 percent of the population, have been fully vaccinated.
Increasing rates of vaccination have provided a sense of hope after a yearlong pandemic that has claimed the lives of 6,622 people in Wisconsin. There were 10 new deaths from COVID-19 reported Wednesday.
Other DHS data from Wednesday include:
- 577,195 total cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began.
- 3,309,569 total tests administered, 2,732,374 of which have been negative since the pandemic began.
- 27,598 people have been hospitalized because of the disease, or 4.8 percent of all positive cases, since the pandemic began.
- Daily testing capacity remains at 59,273, though 17,539 new test results were reported Wednesday.
Coronavirus rates vary from county to county. In order to track COVID-19 activity levels, DHS looks at the number of new cases per a county’s population over a 14-day period — and whether there’s an upward or downward trend in new cases. Activity levels range from “critically high,” “very high,” “high,” “medium,” to “low.”
As of last Wednesday, DHS data showed the state had no counties with “critically high” or “very high” levels of COVID-19 activity. The majority of Wisconsin counties have “high” levels of activity. There were growing case trajectories in Jefferson, Kenosha, Milwaukee, Rock, Waupaca and Washington counties. Wisconsin’s overall COVID-19 activity level is “high.”
For more about COVID-19, visit Coronavirus in Wisconsin.
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