Nearly 1 in 10 unvaccinated Dane Co. residents had COVID-19 in January

MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) - With just days to go before the indoor mask mandate for Dane Co. expires, the county’s health department latest weekly update shows cases continuing to decline sharply – as they have for much of the rest of the state.

Public Health Madison and Dane Co. found an average of 215 COVID-19 cases were reported each day over the past 14 days, a 40 percent drop from last week’s report. The agency also reported a decline in hospitalizations and deaths in the past month. Every age group saw a decline in cases, PHMDC noted, with the youngest residents, those up to four years old, seeing the highest case rates.

Nearly one in ten Dane Co. residents who have not completed their vaccination series ended up testing positive for the virus in January as the Omicron variant gripped the region, PHMDC data show. The agency found that 9.4 percent of them contracted the virus during the month, which was filled with record-shattering case counts. Overall, PHMDC reports 6.2 percent of the county’s population had a positive PCR test in the first month of the year.

Health officials broke down the numbers and discovered someone who was not fully vaccinated was four times more likely to contract the virus than someone who was fully vaccinated and who had a booster or additional dose. They were also ten times more likely to end up in the hospital or six times more likely to have died from the COVID-19 last month, PHMDC found.

Newly available Dept. of Health Services data indicate Dane Co. has the highest percentage of the population that has received the booster/additional dose. PHMDC states 62.2 percent of Dane Co. residents are “up-to-date” on their vaccinations, meaning they are fully vaccinated and have received a booster shot, if they are eligible.

Wisconsin Cases & Deaths Continue Declining

Statewide, the seven-day rolling average for deaths related to COVID-19 ticked down to its lowest point in months. On Friday, DHS reported it slipped to 10 per day and neared single digits for the first time since September.

The nine new deaths reported to close the week pushed the total number of deaths attributed to COVID-19 or complications from the virus to 11,887 since the pandemic began.

The number of new cases continues its steady decline as well, as state health officials tallied 700 new positive tests. That dropped the seven-day rolling average number down to 779 cases per day over the past week, the lowest point since the end of July last year. In all, DHS has recorded 1,380,047 confirmed cases since the virus reached Wisconsin in early February.

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