Wisconsin COVID-19 Cases Decline As Vaccinations Continue

No New Deaths Reported Monday

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Nurse Michelle Martin prepares a COVID-19 vaccination.
In this Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2021, photo nurse Michelle Martin prepares a COVID-19 vaccination for Wallace Charles Smith, 72, who is a pastor at Shiloh Baptist Church at United Medical Center in southeast Washington. Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photos

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 423 new cases of the disease Monday, bringing the average for the past seven days to 612 daily cases. One week ago, the average was 762 daily cases. Average new daily cases have been declining since Jan. 11, when the average was 2,915. It’s typical for DHS to report fewer confirmed COVID-19 cases on Mondays, with labs usually posting fewer test results the day before.

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There were no new deaths from COVID-19 reported Monday. On Monday, 3,251 tested negative.

Of the tests for COVID-19 conducted over the past week, 2.6 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, 1,410,300 doses of coronavirus vaccine have been allocated to Wisconsin by the federal government as of last Tuesday, an increase of 258,275 from a week prior. A total of 1,186,325 doses have been administered in Wisconsin as of Monday, with 46.7 percent of Wisconsinites age 65 and up receiving at least one dose of the vaccine so far. DHS reported that 807,981 Wisconsin residents had received at least one dose, representing 13.9 percent of the state population. As of Monday, 352,791 people have received both shots in Wisconsin, completing the vaccination series.

According to the Wisconsin Hospital Association, there were 353 COVID-19 patients hospitalized as of Sunday. A total of 25,775 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 559,998, according to DHS. A total of 6,284 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. Four counties were listed as having a “very high” level of activity, 67 counties had a “high” level of activity, and one, Rusk County, had a “medium” level. The number of Wisconsin counties at a “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 “no significant change” or “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 Monday. The number of actual people with new test results reported Monday was 3,674.

Throughout the course of the pandemic, 3,155,612 COVID-19 tests have been administered. Of those, 2,595,614 tests have been negative.

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