CDC recommends public indoor masking in 16 counties

Sixteen Wisconsin counties are at the level of COVID-19 trends where federal health officials recommend public indoor masking.

Barron, Brown, Columbia, Dane, Door, Eau Claire, Grant, Green, Iowa, Kenosha, Portage, Milwaukee, Richland, Rock, Rusk and Sawyer counties are all classified as having high COVID-19 community levels, according to a Thursday update from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Thirty-eight counties are at medium levels, where officials recommend those at risk of severe illness consider taking additional precautions. The state’s other 18 counties are at low levels.

In the CDC’s update last week, 14 counties were at a high level, 30 were at medium levels and 28 were at low levels.

Dane County on Friday morning encouraged its residents to be up to date on their vaccines and take additional precautions, like masking in indoor public spaces.

Janel Heinrich, director of Public Health Madison & Dane County, said in a statement that cases reported to them have remained stable over the last two months, but hospitalizations in the region are seeing an uptick.

“Given evidence this new variant may more easily evade immunity, it’s especially important we protect ourselves and our neighbors,” Dane County Executive Joe Parisi said in a statement. “We all want to move past talking about and responding to COVID, but variations of the virus remain, and we need to keep looking out for one another.”

Statewide, the seven-day average for daily new confirmed cases is 1,667, a single-day increase of 52 and a seven-day increase of 84, according to Department of Health Services data released Thursday.

DHS reported 2,118 new confirmed cases, for a total of 1,550,771.

The seven-day average for daily new probable cases is 197, and there have been a total of 210,611.

According to the Wisconsin Hospital Association, 462 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized on Thursday, up seven from Wednesday and 32 from a week ago.

Sixty-one were in intensive care units, up seven from Sunday and the same as a week ago.

The seven-day average is two daily deaths. There have been 13,193 confirmed deaths, with four reported Thursday, and 1,683 probable deaths.

Overall, 64.6 percent of Wisconsinites have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, 61.5 percent are fully vaccinated and 35.1 percent have received an additional or booster dose.

Wisconsin vaccinators have administered 9,601,982 COVID-19 vaccine doses, for a seven-day average of 1,225 daily shots.