DHS Reports 639 New Cases Of COVID-19

7-Day Average Hovering At Just More Than 600 Cases

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A nurse draws up vaccines in a backstage storage area. Clothing and costumes hang on the wall behind her.
Valerie Daum, a registered nurse with the Cudahy Health Department, draws up COVID-19 vaccines Tuesday, May 4, 2021, backstage at the St. Francis High School theater in St. Francis, Wis. Angela Major/WPR

New reports of COVID-19 cases are holding steady at a seven-day average of just more than 600 per day in Wisconsin, based on the latest data published by the state Department of Health Services.

DHS reported 639 new cases of the disease Wednesday, bringing the average for the past seven days to 626 daily cases. One week ago, the average was 623 daily cases.

There were 4,387 negative tests reported Wednesday.

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As COVID-19 cases in Wisconsin hover around averages seen last summer, more of the state’s residents are being vaccinated against the disease.

A total of 4,539,012 doses of the coronavirus vaccine have been administered in Wisconsin as of Wednesday, with 75.8 percent of Wisconsinites age 65 and up fully vaccinated.

As of Wednesday, 2,054,195 people in Wisconsin, or 35.3 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 6,863 people in Wisconsin. There were 13 new deaths from COVID-19 reported Wednesday.

Other DHS data from Wednesday include:

  • 600,936 total cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began.
  • 3,464,996 total tests administered, 2,864,060 of which have been negative since the pandemic began.
  • 29,600 people have been hospitalized because of the disease, or 4.9 percent of all positive cases, since the pandemic began.
  • Daily testing capacity remains at 59,273, though only 5,026 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 “very high,” “high,” “medium,” to “low.”

As of last Wednesday, DHS data showed the state had five counties, all in northwest Wisconsin, with a “very high” level, while the majority of Wisconsin counties had “high” levels of activity. There were growing case trajectories in three counties. Wisconsin’s overall COVID-19 activity level is “high.”

For more about COVID-19, visit Coronavirus in Wisconsin.

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