The average number of new COVID-19 cases decreased in Wisconsin for the first time in six days on Thursday, following record-breaking numbers tallied the week before.
The Department of Health Services reportedan average of 3,396 cases over the last seven days Thursday, down from a record-breaking high of 3,444 reported on Wednesday.
The number of deaths also fell, from a high of 48 on Wednesday to 22 on Thursday. That still raises the death toll in Wisconsin to 1,703 since the pandemic began.
At least 151 more people were hospitalized due to the virus, and 3,451 cases came in as positive, according to the DHS.
The percent of positive cases by person rose slightly, to 23 percent, and the percent of positive cases by total tests by day also gained a single percentage point, to 12.2 percent, compared to Wednesday, DHS numbers show.
Coronavirus cases have exploded in Wisconsin since early September, when students returned to schools and as people began to spend more time indoors with the colder fall temperatures.
Wisconsin remains a hotspot in the country, with the state recording some of the highest relative hospitalizations and active actives of any state in the U.S.
The capacity limits in Gov. Tony Evers' statewide order were given the go-ahead by a Wisconsin judge earlier this week. Republican groups in the state continue to resist those capacity limits, set at 25 percent in public spaces, arguing that they will be the downfall of many struggling businesses across the state. Evers maintains that the controls are an important way to guide the state to more manageable coronavirus numbers as we head into the winter months.