Data Notes for the Week of August 26

Read Data Snapshot

If you’re new to the data snapshot, we publish a weekly summary of the status for each of our metrics (you can find past issues on our data and dashboard page). The data below are from August 9—August 22.

Cases were stable during this 14-day period with an average of 93 cases per day.

Last week there was an average of 91 cases per day. Our current infection rate (R) has slowed in the past three weeks. Delta remains the dominant strain of virus in Dane County. The number of people hospitalized with COVID in Dane County hospitals has been increasing for the past four weeks. We are not able to discern whether these hospitalizations are among Dane County residents or among patients transferred to the Dane County hospitals from the surrounding areas.

Percent positivity was the same as last week, at 3.9%, with an average of 2,415 tests conducted per day. Because percent positivity has been holding steady and has remained under 5%, this is a good indication that we’re testing at the level we need to in order to find cases.

The Face Covering Emergency Order remains in effect until September 16, 2021. Face coverings are required among people ages two and older when in any enclosed space open to the public where other people, except for members of the person’s own household or living unit, are present. Because the Delta variant can spread so easily, masks are an easy and effective way to help stop the spread of the virus.

Over the past four weeks, cases have been stable among children ages 0-4 and 12-17 and have increased among ages 5-11.

The 14-day average of daily new COVID cases (per 100,000 people) is 19.1 for ages 0-11 (those who can’t be vaccinated) and 12.0 for ages 12-17 (those who can be vaccinated). While cases have increased among ages 5-11 over the past month, at this time we have not seen an increase in severe cases in children. This week there was only one new cluster associated with a childcare facility.

Ages 5-7 have a percent positivity of 5.8% and ages 8-11 have a percent positivity of 8.6%, indicating that more testing may be needed among these groups. People with COVID-19 symptoms should be tested as soon as possible. The most common symptoms in children are cough and/or fever but can include many of the same symptoms as adults (e.g., fatigue, headache, congestion, sore throat, loss of taste or smell). There are more testing options than ever before in Dane County and surrounding areas.

Over the past four weeks, cases have been stable among fully vaccinated people but have increased by 24% among people who are not fully vaccinated.

Dane County’s current 7-day average of daily new COVID cases is 32.0 per 100,000 for unvaccinated residents, which is 3.2 times as high as the rate for fully vaccinated residents, which is 10.1 per 100,000.

We continue to have exceptional levels of vaccination.

72.0% of all Dane County residents have received at least one dose of vaccine and 69.0% have completed the vaccine series. 83.1% of the eligible population (ages 12+) have received at least one dose of vaccine and 79.7% have completed the series.

We had an average of 569 doses administered per day, which is up 19% from our low of 480 doses per day five weeks ago. Find your dose on our website.