In perhaps a surprising but welcomed turn of events, the weekly average number of COVID-19 cases is beginning to move in the right direction - downwards.
According to the Department of Health Services COVID-19 dashboard on Monday, Wisconsin marked the lowest number of weekly average cases since Nov. 10, at 5,859. COVID-19 statistics from the DHS always drop on Sunday and Monday, but it appears this recent drop began earlier.
Wisconsin tallied a record-high of 6,563 average weekly cases last Wednesday. That number has decreased every day since then with the exception of last Saturday, when the average rose slightly.
Active cases are also down for the third day in a row, coming in at 74,340 on Monday, which is about 1,600 less than the record set last week.
Both of the methods DHS uses to track percent positivity also continue the downward trend, which began earlier than average cases and active cases. The seven-day percent positive (by person) began decreasing from a high of 36.5 percent on Nov. 12, dropping down to 29.3 percent Sunday. Percent positivity (by test) has followed a similar trend since Nov. 12 as well.
:: Monday numbers.
— Steve Chamraz (@TMJ4Steve) November 23, 2020
Wisconsin may finally be realizing this is serious.
Active cases is down today, the third day in a row... 74,340. That's about 1,600 off peak.
1,999 people in the hospital, about 300 off peak.
280,358 have recovered.
3,011 have died... 6 reported today. pic.twitter.com/KT81hBTWtn
Deaths caused by COVID-19 are also down, but so far, that drop coincides with the usual decrease in COVID-19 statistics over the weekend. Wisconsin recorded a seven-day average number of daily deaths of 54 on Saturday, which dipped to 53 on Sunday and 52 on Monday. Six new deaths caused by the coronavirus were reported Monday, raising the death toll to 3,011 in Wisconsin.
At least 107 new hospitalizations were reported Monday, raising the total hospitalized right now to just under 16,000.
Your #COVID19_WI update w/3,095 new cases. The 7-day average is still close to 6,000 cases (5,859). Right now, there are 74,000+ active cases of #COVID19 in #Wisconsin - 1/5 of the number of people ever confirmed positive. Please, help us #StopTheSpread: https://t.co/RMFK9qifWu pic.twitter.com/Wxko9F49cq
— WIDeptHealthServices (@DHSWI) November 23, 2020
DHS did not note any positive news on its Twitter account Monday, acknowledging that the seven-day average number of cases is still close to 6,000, and that there are currently 74,000 active cases right now - one-fifth of the number of people who ever confirmed positive in Wisconsin.
The state has in the past experienced downward trends only to experience a surge in cases, such as in early June and late August.