Dane Co. falls to low COVID-19 community levels

MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) - Dane and many surrounding counties fell to low community COVID-19 levels in the latest Centers for Disease Control and Prevention weekly report.

The drop is notable for Dane Co. because it remained stuck at medium for a long time before the past several weeks, when it began flip-flopping between medium and high. It has not been low since the state Dept. of Health Services stopped reporting the transmission reports it created for the CDC’s version.

A broad swath of the southern Wisconsin fell into low category, DHS updated map showed (see below). While most others in the region were considered to have medium levels, the two outliers were Juneau and Rock counties, which had high community levels.

CDC COVID-19 Community Levels Map, on Sept. 2, 2022.(Dept. of Health Services)

Statewide, the number of low counties jumped five to 33 total. Conversely, high counties fell by the same figure, leaving ten in that category. Medium counties remained flay at 29 counties, DHS reports. The CDC’s community levels can be volatile, as Dane Co. experienced, because it is based on two factors: hospitalizations and case count.

Overall, Wisconsin’s case counts have been ticking downward for over a month now. Since the beginning of August, the seven-day rolling average has dripped by more than 500 cases per day, or approximately 30 percent, to 1,202 cases per day over the preceding week.