After several days with fewer than 500 new COVID-19 cases, positive tests have crept back up in Wisconsin, though they remain low compared to other periods of the pandemic, based on the latest data published by the state Department of Health Services.
DHS reported 516 new cases of the disease Wednesday, bringing the average for the past seven days to 388 daily cases. Since Sunday, the seven-day average has remained below 400, a milestone last achieved in June. But Wisconsin saw a large spike in hospitalizations Wednesday, with 76.
There were 4,185 negative tests reported Wednesday.
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Through Tuesday, nearly 1.8 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine have been administered in Wisconsin, with 63 percent of Wisconsinites age 65 and up receiving at least one dose of the vaccine so far.
DHS reported 113,632 Wisconsin residents had received at least one dose, representing 19.1 percent of the state population. As of Wednesday, 626,472 people in Wisconsin, or 10.8 percent of the population, have received both shots, completing the vaccination series.
In Bayfield and Menominee counties, more than 30 percent of the population has received at least one dose of vaccine.
Wisconsin is set to receive nearly 50,000 doses of Johnson & Johnson’s one-shot vaccine this week. Those will go to teachers.
Increasing rates of vaccination have provided a sense of hope after a yearlong pandemic that has claimed the lives of 6,524 people in Wisconsin. There were 14 new deaths from COVID-19 reported Wednesday.
Other DHS data from Wednesday include:
- 567,850 total cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began.
- 3,222,808 total tests administered, 2,654,958 of which have been negative since the pandemic began.
- 26,630 people have been hospitalized because of the disease, or 4.7 percent of all positive cases, since the pandemic began.
- Daily testing capacity remains at 59,273, though only 4,701 test results were reported Wednesday.
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 “critically high,” “very high,” “high,” “medium,” to “low.”
As of Wednesday, DHS data showed the state had no counties with “critically high” or “very high” levels of COVID-19 activity. The majority of Wisconsin counties have “high” levels of activity. There are growing case trajectories in Waupaca, Marinette, Wood, Douglas, Waushara, Juneau and Iowa counties. Wisconsin’s overall COVID-19 activity level is “high.”
For more about COVID-19, visit Coronavirus in Wisconsin.
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