Wisconsin on pace to have 2 million COVID-19 vaccinated residents - WBAY

(WBAY) – Wisconsin will cross an important threshold of getting “shots in the arm” of COVID-19 vaccine to 2 million residents Thursday -- if it hasn’t met that milestone already.

The Department of Health Services reports 1,987,677 state residents have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine That’s less than 13,000 residents shy of the milestone when the state is averaging 32,645 shots per day for people who live in Wisconsin, with its estimated population of almost 6 million people.

According to Wednesday’s DHS report, vaccinators administered 3,195,625 shots of COVID-19 vaccines to residents and non-residents, such as people who live near the state line or work in Wisconsin.

Looking at only Wisconsin residents, 43,623 more people received the vaccine since Tuesday’s report.

The 7-day average of new cases climbed to 657 a day by our calculations Wednesday after the state reported 727 new positive tests.

The state is gauging the spread of the COVID-19 virus by the positivity rate looking at all tests, including people tested multiple times.

Since December 13, 2020, more than 1 in 3 people in Wisconsin (34.1%) received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and more than 1 in 5 (21.1%) are fully vaccinated, including 65.2% of senior adults, which is probably helping to keep the death count low.

CLICK HERE to track vaccine data in Wisconsin.

After days of hospitalizations above average, the DHS reported 25 people were hospitalized for COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, down sharply from the 7-day average of 42 hospitalizations per day.

After discharges and deaths, the Wisconsin Hospital Association (WHA) reports 268 COVID-19 patients are currently hospitalized Wednesday, with 65 in ICU.

For hospital readiness, the WHA reports 239 ICU beds unoccupied, which is 16.3% of the ICU beds in the state.

These beds are for all patients, not just COVID-19.

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

The CDC also advised vaccinated people to get tested if they develop symptoms that could be related to COVID-19.