Wisconsin has passed a total of 600,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases, a milestone a top state health official called "grim" during a press briefing Tuesday.
DHS deputy health secretary Julie Willems Van Dijk said fewer people are looking for immunization and more vaccine doses are now going to waste.
The last 100,000 of those confirmed cases took nearly four months to reach, while the remainder were identified over the previous year, according to the Department of Health Services.
As of Tuesday, 34.7 percent of state residents are fully vaccinated, and 43.5 percent of partially vaccinated. Milwaukee County is slightly below that average, with 32.7 percent of residents fully vaccinated and 41.1 percent partially vaccinated, according to the DHS' COVID-19 dashboard.
Willems Van Dijk said that between 1,000 and 2,000 vaccine doses are lost each week as demand has slowed. When vaccinations first began in Wisconsin, hundreds of doses were lost each week, according to the Associated Press.
:: Tuesday numbers -- and a bonus chart.
— Steve Chamraz (@TMJ4Steve) May 4, 2021
We keep bouncing along our plateau.
8,666 active cases, 326 active hospital cases.
2.53 million people in Wisconsin have at least one shot of vaccine, that's 55% of the eligible population. pic.twitter.com/0I5LB5mIk1
Over 6,850 Wisconsin residents have died from complications caused by the coronavirus. Just under 30,000 people have been hospitalized due to the virus.