DHS: Johnson & Johnson Pause Will Continue Until Federal Recommendation Is Made

Wisconsin health officials announced Friday that the pause in administering the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine will continue until a federal recommendation to lift it is made. Vaccinators in Wisconsin should continue to hold J&J vaccine doses, but should not administer them at this time, according to a press release from the state Department of Health Services.

Meanwhile, new reports of COVID-19 cases are leveling out in Wisconsin, based on the latest data published by DHS.

DHS reported 709 new cases of the disease Friday, bringing the average for the past seven days to 754 daily cases, the lowest that figure has been in about a week. However, daily new cases have been rising since late March, when the average was less than 400.

There were 4,029 negative tests reported Friday.

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 3,693,199 doses of the coronavirus vaccine have been administered in Wisconsin as of Thursday, with 71.2 percent of Wisconsinites age 65 and up fully vaccinated.

As of Thursday, 1,504,167 people in Wisconsin, or 25.8 percent of the population, have been fully vaccinated. At the time of publication DHS had not updated the figures for Friday.

Increasing rates of vaccination have provided a sense of hope after a yearlong pandemic that has claimed the lives of 6,703 people in Wisconsin. There were five new deaths from COVID-19 reported Friday.

Other DHS data from Friday include:

• 589,213 total cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began.
• 3,381,920 total tests administered, 2,792,707 of which have been negative since the pandemic began.
• 28,462 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 4,738 new test results were reported Friday.

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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