DHS Releases Interactive Map Of Wisconsin Sites Administering COVID-19 Vaccine

The Wisconsin Department of Heath Services has released a map of vaccine providers in the state. The map will be updated every two weeks.

The interactive map marks whether listed sites are open to all eligible groups, only specific groups, or are closed to the public and only targeted toward specific clients or patients.

DHS cautioned that because they won’t be updating the map daily, people using the map could find the sites listed near them may have already allocated or scheduled all their vaccine doses. All the sites require pre-scheduled appointments.

New reports of COVID-19 cases are continuing to decline in Wisconsin, based on the latest DHS data.

DHS reported 656 new cases of the disease Friday, bringing the average for the past seven days to 615 daily cases. One week ago, the average was 635 daily cases.

There were five new deaths from COVID-19 reported Friday. On Friday, 4,842 tested negative.

Of the tests for COVID-19 conducted over the past week, 2.3 percent were positive for the disease, according to DHS. That rate has been on the decline. 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, 1,625,875 doses of coronavirus vaccine have been allocated to Wisconsin by the federal government as of Tuesday, an increase of 473,850 from a week ago. A total of 1,340,694 doses have been administered in Wisconsin as of Thursday, with 51.3 percent of Wisconsinites age 65 and up receiving at least one dose of the vaccine so far. DHS reported that 868,800 Wisconsin residents had received at least one dose, representing 14.9 percent of the state population. As of Friday, 443,026 people in Wisconsin, or 7.6 percent of the population, have received both shots, completing the vaccination series.

According to the Wisconsin Hospital Association, there were 331 COVID-19 patients hospitalized as of Thursday. A total of 26,013 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 562,807, according to DHS. A total of 6,399 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, 66 counties had a “high” level of activity, and two, Rusk and Bayfield counties, 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 Friday. The number of actual people with new test results reported Friday was 5,498.

Throughout the course of the pandemic, 3,183,104 COVID-19 tests have been administered in Wisconsin. Of those, 2,620,297 tests have been negative.