DHS Reports 805 New COVID-19 Cases, 8 New Deaths

More Than 40 Percent Of Wisconsinites Have Received At Least 1 Vaccine Dose

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A blue sign is seen in the front of the museum begins with "While in the galleries..." and then explains COVID-19 safety rules.
A sign instructs Milwaukee Art Museum guests on safety protocols Friday, March 5, 2021. The museum re-opened for the first time in months after being shut down due to COVID-19. Angela Major/WPR

New reports of COVID-19 cases are averaging at more than 700 cases a day in Wisconsin, based on the latest data published by the state Department of Health Services.

DHS reported 805 new cases of the disease Tuesday, bringing the average for the past seven days to 714 daily cases. Daily new cases have been rising since late March, when the average was below 400.

There were 3,510 negative tests reported Tuesday.

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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 3,920,796 doses of the coronavirus vaccine have been administered in Wisconsin as of Tuesday, with 72.2 percent of Wisconsinites age 65 and up fully vaccinated.

As of Tuesday, 1,635,592 people in Wisconsin, or 28.1 percent of the population, have been fully vaccinated. More than 40 percent of the population has received at lease one dose.

Increasing rates of vaccination have provided a sense of hope after a yearlong pandemic that has claimed the lives of 6,718 people in Wisconsin. There were eight new deaths from COVID-19 reported Tuesday.

Other DHS data from Tuesday include:

  • 591,636 total cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began.
  • 3,398,267 total tests administered, 2,806,631 of which have been negative since the pandemic began.
  • 28,694 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 only 4,315 new test results were reported Tuesday.

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 Wednesday, DHS data showed the state had no counties with a “critically high” level of COVID-19 activity. One county — St. Croix — has a “very high” level, and the majority of Wisconsin counties have “high” levels of activity. There were growing case trajectories in 15 counties, and shrinking trajectories in two. Wisconsin’s overall COVID-19 activity level is “high.”

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

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