FEMA Support Giving Boost To COVID-19 Vaccine Clinic At Alliant Energy Center In Madison

886 New Cases, 8 Deaths Recorded As Increasing Activity Continues In Wisconsin

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A woman in a face mask looks down at her arm as she receives a shot.
Emily Muetze of Wauwatosa receives a COVID-19 vaccine Thursday, March 11, 2021, at Hayat Pharmacy in Milwaukee, Wis. Angela Major/WPR

A mass coronavirus vaccination site at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison will receive federal support starting Wednesday.

Gov. Tony Evers announced the Federal Emergency Management Agency will provide federal staff and support services to administer vaccinations.

Staff at the Alliant Energy Center will be able to vaccinate 1,400 people a day, according to a news release from the governor’s office.

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The Alliant Energy Center has been operating as a vaccination site since December. Support from FEMA means the site will receive 26 additional staff from the federal government and will increase the number of weekly vaccinations from 5,600 doses to 7,700 doses, dependent on supply.

“This is one of the largest vaccination efforts our state has undertaken and it takes teamwork at every level to ensure we are getting vaccine to everyone as quickly, fairly, and safely as possible,” Evers said in the release. “I am grateful for FEMA’s support to our state and coordinating with our local partners to help our most vulnerable populations get the protection they need so we can all move forward from this pandemic.”

Individuals age 16 and up are eligible for the vaccine in Wisconsin. Eligible individuals will have to schedule an appointment through the state’s vaccine registry or by calling 1-844-684-1064. For more information, including how to schedule a free ride to the Alliant Energy Center for a vaccine appointment, go to Public Health Madison and Dane County’s website.

New Cases Trend Upwards

While access to the vaccine is expanding, new reports of COVID-19 cases are on the rise in Wisconsin, based on the latest data published by the state Department of Health Services.

DHS reported 886 new cases of the disease Tuesday, the most new infections in a single day since Feb. 12, when 938 were recorded. The total brings the average for the past seven days to 634 daily cases. The seven-day average has been climbing slowly for several weeks; on March 30 it was 501.

There were 2,422 negative tests reported Tuesday.

Wisconsin’s case count is much lower than it was at the start of the year or during a severe spike in October and November. Hospitalizations have been steady; the Wisconsin Hospital Association reported 241 hospitalized patients as of Monday. These data come as more of the state’s residents are being vaccinated against the disease.

A total of 3.1 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine have been administered in Wisconsin as of Tuesday, with 63.8 percent of Wisconsinites age 65 and up fully vaccinated.

As of Tuesday, 1.2 million people in Wisconsin, or 20.4 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 6,648 people in Wisconsin. There were eight new deaths from COVID-19 reported Tuesday.

Other DHS data from Tuesday include:

  • 581,070 total cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began.
  • 3.3 million total tests administered, 2.8 million of which have been negative since the pandemic began.
  • 27,869 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 3,308 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 “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 eight counties, and shrinking trajectories in four. Wisconsin’s overall COVID-19 activity level is “high.”

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

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