Signs of spring and Wisconsin making headway against the coronavirus pandemic are evident with the return of large public events canceled last year.
In Dane County, the Norwegian festival Syttende Mai will be held, as will the State Fair in West Allis. Both were called off last year because of COVID-19.
New reports of COVID-19 cases are on the decline, averaging at around 600 cases per day in Wisconsin, based on the latest data published by the state Department of Health Services.
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DHS reported 688 new cases of the disease Wednesday, bringing the average for the past seven days to 612 daily cases.
There were 4,435 negative tests reported Wednesday.
As COVID-19 cases in Wisconsin continue to decline, more of the state’s residents are being vaccinated against the disease.
A total of 4,302,648 doses of the coronavirus vaccine have been administered in Wisconsin as of Wednesday, with 74.4 percent of Wisconsinites age 65 and up fully vaccinated.
As of Wednesday, 1,889,058 people in Wisconsin, or 32.4 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 6,807 people in Wisconsin. There were 34 new deaths from COVID-19 reported Wednesday.
Other DHS data from Wednesday include:
- 596,552 total cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began.
- 3,434,656 total tests administered, 2,838,104 of which have been negative since the pandemic began.
- 29,182 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 5,123 new 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 “very high,” “high,” “medium,” to “low.”
As of Wednesday, DHS data showed the state had five counties — Burnett, Polk, Pierce, Sawyer and St. Croix — with a “very high” level, while the majority of Wisconsin counties had a “high” level of activity. There were growing case trajectories in three counties. Wisconsin’s overall COVID-19 activity level is “high.”
For more about COVID-19, visit Coronavirus in Wisconsin.
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