The Wisconsin Department of Health Services on Thursday afternoon altered its COVID-19 online data pages, with county levels aligning with CDC parameters.
DHS is now following the CDC’s parameters for COVID levels by community, which put the entire state at low as of Friday morning.
Previously, DHS analyzed total new cases and percent change for its COVID ratings on the state and county levels, while the CDC metrics factor in the number of hospital beds being used, hospital admissions, and the total number of new COVID-19 cases in an area. DHS will now follow the CDC’s measurements, which as of Friday morning rated all counties as having low transmission, with masking not imperative.
Additional changes to DHS pages include more streamlined data, with information now condensed on fewer webpages. Several graphs are also being removed, including those which show cumulative counts; percent of COVID-19 cases and deaths among living in group housing; number of facility-wide COVID-19 public health investigations; COVID-19 vaccine doses administered by provider type; and the maps of COVID-19 cases and deaths and vaccinations by county, census tract, municipality, school district, and zip code.
People are also reading…
The elimination of these charts were made with “careful consideration of what metrics will be most useful to Wisconsinites.”
“DHS is committed to providing timely and relevant COVID-19 metrics on our website and in all of our communications,” said DHS Secretary-designee Karen Timberlake. “As the COVID-19 pandemic evolves, we are continuously adapting to changes and highlighting the data and information that is most useful for individuals and families to use in safeguarding their own health, and for our partners to use to make informed decisions for their communities.”
To streamline information, the DHS COVID summary dashboard will now show vaccination percentages.
After a delay in updating the COVID-19 Illness After Vaccination data page, DHS on Thursday afternoon shared March rates, which show COVID infections 1.1 times higher; hospitalizations 2.4% higher; and deaths 3.4 times higher among the unvaccinated.
“Due to the highly transmissible Omicron variant, we can expect a higher number of fully vaccinated people to test positive for COVID-19,” DHS stated. “However, current vaccines still protect against severe illness, hospitalization, and death due to infection with the Omicron variant.”
IN PHOTOS: UW-La Crosse donates gift baskets to healthcare workers
Donations
UW-La Crosse staff and faculty deliver gift baskets Tuesday afternoon at Gundersen.
Donations
Donations from the UW-L campus community are delivered at Gundersen.
Donations
Nurses and a representative from the Gundersen Medical Foundation met the UW-L students and faculty.
Donations
Donations from the UW-L campus community are delivered at Gundersen.
Donations
The gifts — including snacks, games, gift cards, thank-you notes and more — were donated by the UW-L campus community.
Donations
Donations from the UW-L campus community are delivered at Gundersen.
Donations
Donations from the UW-L campus community are delivered at Gundersen.
Donations
The gifts — including snacks, games, gift cards, thank-you notes and more — were donated by the UW-L campus community.
Donations
Donations from the UW-L campus community.
Donations
Nurses and a representative from the Gundersen Medical Foundation met the UW-L students and faculty.
Emily Pyrek can be reached at emily.pyrek@lee.net.
