Rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine is continuing in Wisconsin, with the state reporting more than 1 million doses administered as of Wednesday. Meanwhile, new cases of the disease continue to decline in the state, based on the latest data published by the state Department of Health Services.
DHS reported 657 new cases of the disease Wednesday, bringing the average for the past seven days to 731 daily cases. Daily new cases have been on the decline since early January, when the average was about 3,000.
There were 10 new deaths from COVID-19 reported Wednesday. On Wednesday, 4,228 tested negative.
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Of the tests for COVID-19 conducted over the past week, 3.1 percent were positive for the disease, according to DHS. That rate has been declining since early January. The rate takes into account people who have been tested multiple times.
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.
According to DHS, 1,410,300 doses of coronavirus vaccine have been allocated to Wisconsin by the federal government as of Tuesday, an increase of 258,275 from a week ago. A total of 1,023,575 doses have been administered in Wisconsin as of Wednesday, with 40.5 percent of Wisconsinites age 65 and up receiving at least one dose of the vaccine so far.
DHS reported that 740,450 Wisconsin residents had received at least one dose, representing 12.7 percent of the state population. As of Wednesday, 263,877 people have received both shots in Wisconsin, completing the vaccination series.
According to the Wisconsin Hospital Association, there were 411 COVID-19 patients hospitalized as of Tuesday. A total of 25,498 people have been hospitalized because of the disease, or 4.6 percent of all positive cases.
The latest figures bring the overall total of positive cases in Wisconsin to 556,989, according to DHS. A total of 6,214 people in Wisconsin have died from COVID-19.
COVID-19 activity varies from county to county. The latest activity data from DHS, released last Wednesday, showed the state had no counties with a “critically high” level of COVID-19 activity. Nine counties were listed as having a “very high” level of activity and 63 counties had a “high” level of activity. The number of Wisconsin counties at a “critically high” and “very high” level of COVID-19 activity has been decreasing. Wisconsin’s overall level is “high.”
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 last Wednesday, all of Wisconsin’s seven regions were listed as “high” and were seeing “shrinking” levels 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 59,273 as of Wednesday. The number of actual people with new test results reported Wednesday was 4,885.
Throughout the course of the pandemic, 3,132,015 COVID-19 tests have been administered. Of those, 2,575,026 tests have been negative.
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