While daily deaths caused by the coronavirus are drastically down in Wisconsin, the state passed a total of 7,000 deaths connected to the virus on Wednesday.
At least 7,003 people in Wisconsin have died from complications caused by COVID-19 since the pandemic began over a year ago, the state Department of Health Services' COVID-19 dashboard shows.
But if we look at the weekly average number of deaths each day, that number is the lowest it's been since last fall. The seven-day average number of daily deaths is now at four. At the pandemic's most intense months late last fall and winter, that average was at 60 deaths.
The most deaths caused by coronavirus in Wisconsin happened on Jan. 16, when the DHS counted 128 deaths. Outside of some spikes, the death toll has generally dropped since that high.
As of Wednesday, Wisconsin had not seen a lower average death toll since late September. It was the transition into October when deaths and cases began to rapidly climb, DHS data shows.
Locally, Milwaukee County has counted a total of 1,125 deaths connected to the virus since the pandemic began. The trend of decreasing deaths in the county mirrors that reported by state health officials.
Health officials credit that progress to the vaccine. As of Wednesday, 47 percent of the state's population is partially vaccinated, and 41 percent is fully vaccinated.