Local Covid-19

Vilas County public health director Laurel Dreger has seen a recent increase in COVID-19 cases jumping from 12 active to 20 and then down to 13 cases county-wide.

“We had one whole family that came down with COVID-19 at the same time and that led to the increase, but recovery has again lowered our active cases,” Dreger said last week. “As of Monday, July 13 we had 2,385 recovered cases with 2,446 cases testing positive and 10,773 testing negative, but unfortunately we also have had 45 deaths.”

  Wisconsin health officials say an uptick in COVID-19 cases in the state this week is likely connected to the more contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus and reinforces the need for unvaccinated residents to get inoculated.

Nearly 51% of people statewide have received at least one dose of the vaccine and about 48% statewide are fully vaccinated, which officials say provides good protection against the Delta variant.

Statewide, 83 cases of the Delta variant have been detected through the testing done on some samples, up from 35 cases in mid-June.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court has ruled that local health departments do not have the authority to close schools due emergencies like the coronavirus pandemic.

The conservative majority of the court, in a 4-3 decision, also ruled that a school closure order issued last year by Public Health Madison & Dane County infringed on religious rights.

The ruling is yet another victory for conservatives who challenged both state and local orders issued during the pandemic to close schools, limit capacity in buildings and require masks to be worn.

Wisconsin is experiencing COVID-19 levels not seen since the beginning of the pandemic.

The state is averaging about 130 new cases a day.

Department of Health Services Deputy Secretary Julie Willems Van Dijk said during Tuesday media briefing that it’s great progress in fight against the virus, but more still needs to be done.

Hospitalizations due to the COVID-19 virus are at their lowest recorded levels in Wisconsin, a 92% drop from the peak less than seven months ago.

The Wisconsin Hospital Association said that as of Monday, there were 186 people reported as hospitalized statewide due to the virus.

The previous low was 192 people on April 2, the first day that the dashboard tracking hospitalizations reported data.

The high was 2,277 patients on Nov. 17, 2020.

The good news comes as mask mandates ended Tuesday in Milwaukee and in state buildings, including the Capitol.

A key state health department leader is hedging on whether Wisconsin can attain COVID-19 herd immunity by mid-2021.

Department of Health Services Deputy Secretary Julie Willems Van Dijk has previously said that 70% of Wisconsin's population would need to be vaccinated to attain herd immunity and the state could reach that benchmark by July.

But vaccination rates have slowed dramatically and are now growing at only about 1% a week.

Now is the time to get your COVID-19 vaccine if you haven’t already done so, according to Governor Tony Evers.

In a COVID update with the Department of Health Services on Wednesday, the Governor urged people to get vaccinated.

Local and Tribal public health departments in the Northwoods are urging people to follow COVID-19 health guidelines. 14 health departments signed the message including, Oneida, Forest, Langlade, Lincoln, Vilas, Iron, and Price County Health Officers.

It calls for people to keep wearing masks, physically distance, wash your hands, avoid large gatherings, and get vaccinated.