MADISON, Wis. — Weekly vaccinations in Wisconsin have dipped a bit from an all-time high in early April, when the state received an unusually high supply of J&J vaccines before the federal government called a now-lifted halt on their administration.
The plateau comes as active variants rise, with Rock County reporting new variants this week while the number of known sequenced variants rising to more than 900, according to the latest data from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.
State health officials warn that there’s still concern about a variant-related COVID-19 surge in Wisconsin, which the DHS chief medical officer Dr. Ryan Westergaard says typically follows neighboring Michigan by about a month in variant data.
“Michigan in particular about a month ago started seeing larger outbreaks–in congregate settings, for example,” Dr. Westergaard explained in a press call with reporters on Thursday. In part, that surge can be attributed to variants, he said. “I bring that up, not to be definitive as ‘That is the cause or the only cause’, but it’s clearly a cause of this large surge in Michigan [emphasis added].”
He’s not ruling out a similar spike in Wisconsin.
“That’s one thing that gives me concern that we’re not out of the woods to seeing a late spring, early summer surge,” he said, given the higher level of infectiousness that the variants possess.
“If you’ve had COVID-19 before, you’re still at risk of getting these two variant strains,” Jessica Turner from the Rock County Public Health department noted regarding two new strains discovered in the county this week. “With these variants in our community, it’s a little bit concerning because there’s a possibility for the virus to spread more rapidly.”
Cases statewide are nowhere near the levels of fall and early winter, officials note, but the concern for a resurgence remains. The state, meanwhile, will pivot its strategy for vaccinations from larger sites to smaller, more targeted clinics in the race to get everyone vaccinated.
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