WC Wisconsin News

As COVID-19 numbers peaked in mid-January and have since been declining, Wisconsin is seeing its best data since the end of last year.

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services said there were 2,491 new confirmed cases across the state Jan. 30, Fox11 reported this week. That was the lowest amount of daily cases since Dec. 25. In tandem with that dip, the seven-day average of new cases fell to 5,926, its lowest level since Dec. 30. 

As the number of new cases has fallen, so has the positivity rate. The percentage of tests that have come back positive reached a high of 29.3% Jan. 10. More recently, the rate of positive tests has dropped below 20%, DHS numbers show. 

While most of the COVID-19 stats have improved, hospitalizations increased slightly on Jan. 31. The Wisconsin Hospital Association told Fox11 that 1,579 coronavirus patients were in hospitals that day. That was an increase of 15 over Jan. 30’s numbers, but it was down 351 from a week earlier so a downward trend is still evident.

The omicron variant has proven more contagious than earlier forms of the novel coronavirus. With that, the country has seen surging numbers over the past couple of months. 

From the time the pandemic was declared in early 2020 until Jan. 31, Wisconsin has recorded more than 1.3 million COVID-19 cases and 12,453 deaths. The death toll includes fatalities where coronavirus was confirmed as the cause of death and cases where it was the likely cause of death.