Seven day average for new coronavirus cases continues to fall, state reports one new death - WBAY

(WBAY) – One day after reporting a record amount of COVID-19 related deaths within a single 24-hour period in Wisconsin, state health officials say one person has died from the illness brought on by the coronavirus since Saturday.

In addition to a low amount of deaths reported by the Department of Health Services (DHS), the state also reported another day of fewer than 2,000 new cases of the coronavirus Sunday.

The DHS has reported fewer than 2,000 new cases in four out of the past eight days.

It’s also the eighth day in a row with fewer than 3,000 new cases reported by the state, and the seventh time in 8 days the positivity rate was below 30%.

As of Friday, the Wisconsin DHS reports 213,056 total doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered since December 14.

The DHS also tracks results for people tested multiple times, such as health care workers or patients being treated for COVID-19.

In addition, the DHS reported 50 people were hospitalized for COVID-19 symptoms during a 24-hour period that ended Sunday morning.

A total of 23,076 people have been hospitalized in Wisconsin since the virus reached our state, or 4.4% of all known cases.

The state has identified 521,794 cases, and 490,043 of these people (93.9%) are considered recovered (though may still have lingering effects from their infections.) There are 26,139 active cases (5.0%) diagnosed or experiencing symptoms in the past 30 days who haven’t been medically cleared.

The Wisconsin Hospital Association (WHA) says 853 COVID-19 patients, including 207 in ICU, are currently being treated in hospitals in the state.

Fox Valley region hospitals were treating 70 COVID-19 patients, including 6 in ICU.

Northeast region hospitals were treating 82 COVID-19 patients, with 23 in ICU – five fewer ICU patients and seven fewer patients overall in the past day.

It also didn’t have any overflow COVID-19 patients from state hospitals.

The WHA reports Saturday the state’s 134 hospitals have 287 of their 1,466 ICU beds open (19.57%) and 2,301 of all types of medical beds (20.59%) open -- ICU, intermediate care, medical surgical and negative flow isolation.

These beds are for all patients, not just COVID-19, and whether a bed can be filled depends on whether the hospital has the necessary medical and support staff.

* Cases and deaths are from the daily DHS COVID-19 reports, which may differ from local health department numbers.

The DHS reports cases from all health departments within a county’s boundaries, including tribal, municipal and county health departments; county websites may not.