New reports of COVID-19 cases are averaging at about 800 cases per day in Wisconsin, based on the latest data published by the state Department of Health Services.
DHS reported 752 new cases of the disease Saturday, bringing the average for the past seven days to 806 daily cases. One week ago, the average was 1,106 daily cases.
There were 10 new deaths from COVID-19 reported Saturday. On Saturday, 3,752 tested negative.
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Of the tests for COVID-19 conducted over the past week, 3.5 percent were positive for the disease, according to DHS. That rate has been on the decline 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, 1,152,025 doses of coronavirus vaccine have been allocated to Wisconsin by the federal government as of Tuesday, an increase of 165,750 from a week ago. On Friday, DHS reported that 689,778 Wisconsin residents had received at least one dose, representing 11.8 percent of the state population. As of Friday, 232,178 people have received both shots in Wisconsin, completing the vaccination series.
According to the Wisconsin Hospital Association, there were 461 COVID-19 patients hospitalized as of Friday. A total of 25,268 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 554,800, according to DHS. A total of 6,161 people in Wisconsin have died from COVID-19.
COVID-19 activity varies from county to county. The latest activity data from DHS, released 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 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 Saturday. The number of actual people with new test results reported Saturday was 4,504.
Throughout the course of the pandemic, 3,115,640 COVID-19 tests have been administered. Of those, 2,560,840 tests have been negative.
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