New reports of COVID-19 cases are continuing to decline in Wisconsin, based on the latest data published by the state Department of Health Services.
DHS reported 750 new cases of the disease Monday, bringing the average for the past seven days to 1,321 daily cases. Last week, the average was hovering around 1,500 cases. It’s typical for DHS to report fewer confirmed COVID-19 cases on Mondays, with labs usually posting fewer test results the day before.
There was one new death from COVID-19 reported on Monday. On Monday, 3,070 tested negative.
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Of the people tested for COVID-19 over the past week, 19.5 percent were positive for the disease, according to DHS. That rate has been holding steady for the last several days.
The positivity rate is often read by public health officials as a measure of overall testing levels. A high rate could indicate that testing in the state is limited, and skewed toward those already flagged as potentially having COVID-19. A lower rate could indicate testing is more widespread. Changes in the test positivity rate can also speak to COVID-19’s spread, if the size and makeup of the testing pool stays consistent.
DHS also tracks the percentage of tests that are positive, instead of the percentage of people who get a positive result. The metric takes into account people who have been tested multiple times. The seven-day average for that number is 5.4 percent.
According to DHS, 846,300 doses of coronavirus vaccine have been allocated across Wisconsin as of Tuesday, an increase of 66,500 from a week ago. Currently, 551,963 doses of the vaccines have been administered, and 101,551 people have received both shots, completing the vaccination series.
A graph showing the daily number of vaccinations across the state has seen a steady increase in doses administered since the beginning of 2021 — although doses administered dip on weekends and doses administered tend to be lower on Mondays compared to other weekdays.
There was a sharp increase in administered vaccines between Tuesday and Wednesday, and the number of administered vaccines has dipped steadily the past few days. Preliminary data since Dec. 15 shows the number of vaccinations mostly increasing.
According to the Wisconsin Hospital Association, there were 697 COVID-19 patients hospitalized as of Sunday. A total of 24,337 people have been hospitalized because of the disease, or 4.5 percent of all positive cases.
The latest figures bring the overall total of positive cases in Wisconsin to 543,165, according to DHS. A total of 5,897 people in Wisconsin have died from COVID-19.
COVID-19 activity designations are based on the number of new cases per a county’s population over a 14-day period, as well as whether there’s an upward or downward trend in new cases.
As of Wednesday, all seven of Wisconsin’s regions had “very high” levels of activity and were seeing “shrinking” levels or “no significant change” of COVID-19 activity, according to DHS.
Wisconsin’s daily testing capacity — based on the availability of test supplies and adequate staffing — has grown from 120 available lab tests in early March to 59,275 as of Monday. The number of actual people with new test results reported Monday was 3,820.
A total of 3,053,835 people have been tested over the course of the pandemic. Of those, 2,510,670 have tested negative.
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