Wisconsin Records 662 New COVID-19 Cases As Infection Rate Stagnates

Little Change In Infection Averages Over Last 2 Weeks, Even As Vaccinations Increase

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Orange buttons in a box say "I got my COVID-10 vaccine!" on them.
Buttons for people who receive the COVID-19 vaccine are on display Tuesday, May 4, 2021, at St. Francis High School in St. Francis, Wis. Angela Major/WPR

New reports of COVID-19 cases are averaging around 600 per day in Wisconsin, based on the latest data published by the state Department of Health Services.

DHS reported 662 new cases of the disease Friday, bringing the average for the past seven days to 588 daily cases. There has been little change in the last two weeks; on April 24, the state’s seven-day average was 620.

There were 5,496 negative tests reported Friday.

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Even as COVID-19 cases in Wisconsin hold steady, more of the state’s residents are being vaccinated against the disease.

A total of 4,622,855 doses of the coronavirus vaccine have been administered in Wisconsin as of Friday, with 76.3 percent of Wisconsinites age 65 and up fully vaccinated.

As of Friday, 2,117,418 people in Wisconsin, or 36.4 percent of the population, have been fully vaccinated.

Increasing rates of vaccination have provided a sense of hope after a yearlong pandemic that has claimed the lives of 6,884 people in Wisconsin. But there were seven new deaths from COVID-19 reported Friday.

Other DHS data from Friday include:

  • 602,265 total cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began.
  • 3,476,484 total tests administered, 2,874,219 of which have been negative since the pandemic began.
  • 29,731 people have been hospitalized because of the disease, or 4.9 percent of all positive cases, since the pandemic began.
  • Daily testing capacity remains at 59,273, though only 5,496 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 “very high,” “high,” “medium,” to “low.”

As of Wednesday, DHS data showed the state had two counties — Polk and St. Croix — with a “very high” level, while the majority of Wisconsin counties had “high” levels of activity. There were growing case trajectories in two counties and shrinking trajectories in three. Wisconsin’s overall COVID-19 activity level is “high.”

For more about COVID-19, visit Coronavirus in Wisconsin.

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