As Wisconsin Climbs In Vaccination Rankings, New COVID-19 Cases Continue To Decline

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 543 new cases of the disease Monday, bringing the average for the past seven days to 1,029 daily cases. Daily new cases have been falling since early January, when the average was around 3,000. 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 Monday. On Monday, 3,175 tested negative.

Of the tests for COVID-19 conducted over the past week, 4.2 percent were positive for the disease, according to DHS. That rate has been declining since early January, and 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, 986,275 doses of coronavirus vaccine have been allocated to Wisconsin by the federal government as of Tuesday, an increase of 139,975 from the previous week. As of Monday, 767,020 doses of the vaccines have been administered and 165,370 people have received both shots, completing the vaccination series. According to CDC rankings, Wisconsin is now 10th in the nation for percentage of the population that has received at least one dose.

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 given dip on weekends.

According to the Wisconsin Hospital Association, there were 570 COVID-19 patients hospitalized as of Sunday. A total of 24,919 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 550,369, according to DHS. A total of 6,055 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. Twenty-four counties were listed as having a “very high” level of activity and 48 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 was downgraded to “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, three of Wisconsin’s regions — northwest, north central and western — had “very high” levels of activity and were seeing “shrinking” levels or “no significant change” of COVID-19 activity, according to DHS. The state’s four other regions had a “high” level of activity.

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 Monday. The number of actual people with new test results reported Monday was 3,718.

Throughout the course of the pandemic, 3,088,466 COVID-19 tests have been administered. Of those, 2,538,097 tests have been negative.

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