MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin has officially surpassed 500,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19.
State and county health officials recorded 3,507* new cases of the virus Friday, which is noticeably higher than the seven-day rolling average of 2,715.
The state Department of Health Services reported Wisconsin’s first COVID-19 case in February. More than 11 months later, and the state has amassed 502,346* confirmed cases. Over 30,000 of those cases remain active as of Friday.
According to DHS data, most counties in Wisconsin continue to have “very high” activity levels for disease spread.
The seven-day positivity rate of new tests by person has dropped by more than 2 percentage points to 29.8%. The seven-day equivalent for total tests by day also went down to 11.1%.
The past week also saw another significant milestone, as the statewide death toll exceeded 5,000 on Tuesday.
At least 5,216* in Wisconsin have died of coronavirus complications since March, and 39 new deaths were reported Friday. DHS officials said an additional 136 people have been hospitalized in the past 24 hours. Out of the state’s 11,042 hospital beds, 17% are available for new patients.
With the nation seeing a slow rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine, President-elect Joe Biden has announced plans to quicken the release of doses when he assumes office in two weeks.
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*News 3 Now uses data from DHS and county dashboards to calculate daily cases and deaths. DHS posts new numbers daily at 2 p.m., and our newsroom continues to update our totals throughout the day with additional cases that individual counties report. By using a combination of state and county data, News 3 Now is dedicated to providing the most comprehensive and up-to-date COVID-19 coverage.
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