MADISON, Wis. Provinces in Wisconsin maintain a high level of COVID activity, after declining activity earlier in the spring.
A map tracking COVID activity from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services showed only four counties with medium activity, down from more than 20 with low to medium activity mid to late March. On top of that, one province rose again to a very high level, after weeks with none in the deepest blue range.
The rising activity includes consecutive variants that have doubled since last week, with the UK and a California tribe dominating the number of nearly 600 active variants.
“This is most likely part of the explanation for why cases are increasing in Wisconsin,” he said. Ryan Westergaard, general secretary of DHS, said in a press briefing on Tuesday. “We see more cases in younger people as part of all our business.”
A growing number of positive cases available for laboratory sequencing are highly transmissible variants, said dr. Westergaard explains. In Michigan, he noted, an increase in sequence variants was the increase in cases beforehand.
In Dane County, health officials also attribute part of the distribution to variants, especially the British variant which is now seen as the dominant COVID strain.
“We like to look at the vaccination numbers,” said Katarina Grande, team leader at Public Health Madison and Dane County. “We do not like the cases so much.”
Cases are increasing among the younger population, at youth sporting events and in remote communities around Madison, according to the latest weekly data highlights from PHMDC. But there is also good news, Grande noted.
“We have reached another milestone this week, where we have not seen a single case involving a long-term care facility in a group,” she said. “It hasn’t happened in a very long time.”
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