Wisconsin passes 10 million COVID-19 vaccine doses

MADISON, Wis. (WBAY) – Wisconsin reached a milestone Thursday in its effort to slow the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19. Vaccinators administered more than 10 million doses of vaccine since vaccinations started in Wisconsin in December, 2020, to both state and out-of-state residents.

The total 10,003,005 doses administered so far include first shots, second shots for Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, and boosters. The Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) just started reporting additional booster doses on Monday. More than half of these (5,883,076) were the Pfizer vaccine, followed by Moderna (3,775,247) and 344,682 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

More than 2 million people (2,060,004) received a booster shot. Over half a million doses (521,539) were given as additional boosters.

We’ll have our usual daily breakdown of vaccinations by age group and by county later in this article.

Wisconsin is seeing a rise in new cases and COVID-19 deaths. Thursday, the 7-day average of new COVID-19 cases went down for the first time in over 2 weeks -- but it’s likely more of a pause than a pattern. Testing confirmed over 2,000 new cases for a second day in a row, with 2,097 cases reported Thursday, just a little less than the 2,141 cases a week ago. The 7-day average is still the highest since early June.

Six counties in WBAY’s greater viewing area reported between 2 and 8 new cases; 12 counties saw double-digit increases of 12 to 57 new cases; Brown County added 100 cases; and Florence County didn’t report any.

Fifteen percent of all COVID-19 tests in the state in the past week were positive for the coronavirus. The first time the positivity rate was that high was almost six months ago on, February 4.

Five people were added to the COVID-19 death toll. The DHS says all 5 people died within the past 30 days, including one in Sheboygan County. The DHS says the state is averaging 3 COVID-19 deaths per day -- which is still a very low number in this pandemic.

Forty-four people were hospitalized for COVID-19 in the last 24-hour period. By our calculations, Wisconsin averages 41 COVID-19 patients being admitted each day.

Even after taking discharges and deaths into account, 497 people are in hospitals for COVID-19, six more than Wednesday, the Wisconsin Hospital Association (WHS) reports; 78 of these patients are in intensive care, which is 9 fewer than a day earlier. Wisconsin hasn’t had 500 COVID-19 patients at one time since March 1.

The 10 hospitals in the Northeast health care region are treating 47 patients, with 10 in ICU; that’s 1 more in intensive care and 3 more patients overall since Wednesday. The 13 Fox Valley hospitals are treating 31 COVID-19 patients, 4 in ICU; that’s 3 more patients but the same number in ICU as a day ago.

Since COVID-19 was first confirmed in Wisconsin almost 2 1/2 years ago, in February, 2020:

1,563,351 people were confirmed to have the coronavirus
63,383 of them were hospitalized (4.05% of all cases)
13,220 of them died (0.85% of all cases)
3,768,747 Wisconsin residents received at least one vaccine dose (64.6% of the state’s population)
3,585,298 residents completed their vaccine series (61.5% of the population)
2,048,945 residents received at least one booster dose (35.1% of the population)

Thursday’s Vaccinations by Age Group (and change since last report)

5 to 11: 28.7% (+0.1) received vaccine/25.8% completed vaccinations/0.0% received booster
12 to 17: 62.2% received vaccine/58.8% completed vaccinations/21.8% (+0.1) received booster
18 to 24: 61.0% received vaccine/55.4% completed vaccinations/20.4% (+0.1) received booster
25 to 34: 64.8% received vaccine/60.3% completed vaccinations/26.3% received booster
35 to 44: 69.7% received vaccine/66.3% completed vaccinations/33.9% received booster
45 to 54: 72.0% received vaccine/69.2% completed vaccinations/39.0% received booster
55 to 64: 78.3% received vaccine/75.9% completed vaccinations/50.3% received booster
65 and up: 85.1% received vaccine/82.5% completed vaccinations/68.5% (+0.1) received booster

Thursday’s Vaccinations by County Population (and change since last report)

County (Population) (Health region)	% of population with at least 1 dose	% of population completed series
Brown (264,610) (NE)	66.1%	63.5%
Calumet (50,209) (FV)	57.1%	55.1%
Dodge (87,336)	52.8%	50.7%
Door (27,889) (NE)	79.2%	75.5%
Florence (4,298) (NE)	52.3%	49.9%
Fond du Lac (102,902) (SE)	56.1%	53.7%
Forest (8,960)	53.3%	50.8%
Green Lake (18,908) (FV)	57.8%	55.2%
Kewaunee (20,386) (NE)	52.7%	51.4%
Langlade (19,119)	54.2%	52.1%
Manitowoc (78,757) (NE)	60.9%	58.8%
Marinette (40,262) (NE)	53.8%	51.6%
Menominee (4,546) (FV)	81.7%	78.5%
Oconto (38,383) (NE)	53.3%	51.6%
Outagamie (188,766) (FV)	64.7%	62.1%
Shawano (40,786) (FV)	48.1%	46.6%
Sheboygan (115,240) (SE)	63.3%	60.9%
Waupaca (50,664) (FV)	55.8%	53.9%
Waushara (24,326) (FV)	46.5% (+0.1)	44.6% (+0.1)
Winnebago (171,631) (FV)	62.6%	59.8%
NORTHEAST REGION (474,585) (NE)	300,032 (63.2%)	288,670 (60.8%)
FOX VALLEY REGION (549,836) (FV)	332,052 (60.4%)	318,846 (58.0%)
WISCONSIN (5,832,655)	3,768,747 (64.6%)	3,585,298 (61.5%)

The Department of Health Services told Action 2 News Wednesday it recently updated its website to include additional booster shots. Now the count includes second (or more) booster doses administered to Wisconsinites and out-of-state residents. Almost 500,000 more booster doses were added to the state’s total as a result of the update.

And also as a result, the cumulative total of doses administered went way, way up. The increase of almost 400,000 doses wasn’t as much as the booster doses because other vaccination metrics were revised with Monday’s update. The numbers of Wisconsinites who received their first dose and who completed their vaccine series were both revised downward -- you saw this reflected in our reports on vaccinations by age group and by county Monday and Tuesday, with some percentages going down -- and there were other revisions, as well. The DHS says corrections or updates that can lead to revisions include:

Correcting a case’s status from confirmed to unconfirmed;
De-duplication, or merging and consolidating case records;
Completing a case’s missing or unknown demographic information

To find free COVID-19 vaccination sites near you, text your ZIP Code to 438829. Visit wbay.com/vaccine for a list of health care organizations offering vaccine shots.

THURSDAY’S COUNTY CASE AND DEATH TOTALS* (boldface indicates change since last report)

Brown – 76,259 cases (+100) (431 deaths)
Calumet – 12,366 cases (+13) (102 deaths)
Dickinson (Mich.)** - 5,376 cases (92 deaths)
Dodge – 26,077 cases (+37) (296 deaths)
Door – 7,296 cases (+6) (62 deaths)
Florence - 860 cases (17 deaths)
Fond du Lac – 32,123 cases (+48) (263 deaths)
Forest - 2,698 cases (+4) (48 deaths)
Gogebic (Mich.)** - 3,108 cases (41 deaths)
Green Lake - 4,731 cases (+13) (56 deaths)
Iron (Mich.)** - 2,553 cases (71 deaths)
Kewaunee – 4,823 cases (+2) (43 deaths)
Langlade - 5,405 cases (+5) (75 deaths)
Manitowoc – 18,961 cases (+23) (164 deaths)
Marinette - 10,408 cases (+12) (112 deaths)
Menominee – 2,010 cases (+7) (15 deaths)
Menominee (Mich.)** - 4,233 cases (61 deaths)
Oconto – 9,831 cases (+8) (99 deaths)
Outagamie – 46,145 cases (+57) (364 deaths)
Shawano – 10,616 cases (+11) (131 deaths)
Sheboygan – 32,130 cases (+40) (277 deaths) (+1)
Waupaca – 12,272 cases (+24) (200 deaths)
Waushara – 5,429 cases (+10) (70 deaths)
Winnebago – 48,517 cases (+54) (343 deaths)

* You can find cases and deaths for all 72 Wisconsin counties on the DHS County Data website and for Michigan counties on the Michigan Department of Health COVID-19 website.

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services and Wisconsin Hospital Association publish updates Mondays through Fridays. Michigan Department of Health updates county information on Tuesdays.

Cases and deaths are from state COVID-19 reports, which may differ from local health department numbers. The Wisconsin DHS reports cases from all health departments within a county’s boundaries, including tribal, municipal and county health departments; county websites may not. Also, public health departments update their data at various times, whereas the DHS freezes the numbers it receives by the same time every day to compile the afternoon report.