Based on relatively new federal guidelines, all of Racine County is now in the “low” category for the prevalence of COVID-19.
However, under Wisconsin Department of Health Services guidelines, Racine County is still considered to have a “moderately high” level of community transmission, since there were an estimated 5.82 people per day per 10,000 residents testing positive for COVID-19 over the two-week period from March 16-29.
Over the past two weeks, the number of COVID-19 cases per capita in Racine County reached its lowest point since July 2021.
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention currently defines the “low” category as having both:
- Fewer than 200 new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people in the past seven days.
- An average of fewer than 10% of staffed inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 patients over the past seven days.
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In a social media post Friday, the City of Racine said: “Fortunately, there isn’t a lot to provide in the way of updates on COVID. Our case rate (of 25 active COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people in the city and 17 active cases per 100,000 in the rest of the county, as reported March 27) has been holding steady in the mid-20s for a couple of weeks now.
“Under the newer, CDC Community Level criteria, the City of Racine and Racine County overall are in the Low category.”
The CDC says that “current high levels of population immunity (through prior infection and vaccinations) reduce risk of severe outcomes.” Neither being vaccinated nor having previously been infected with the novel coronavirus are guarantees that the individual won’t catch COVID-19 again, but they leave the individual less likely to suffer severe illness or death from COVID-19.
DHS reports that those who are unvaccinated are three times more likely to test positive for COVID-19 than those who are vaccinated, 9.5 times more likely to be hospitalized and 14.1 times more likely to die.
“Hopefully, we are out of the worst of it,” the city’s post continued, while still encouraging residents get vaccinated and receive booster shots.
