Madison Reporter

Wisconsin, like many states in the nation, has seen the number of COVID-19 cases start to fall off from peak numbers that had been reported through the first half of January.

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) reported 2,491 new cases on Jan. 30. That is the lowest number of new confirmed cases since Christmas, according to a Fox11 news report. The seven-day average of new cases dropped to 5,926, its lowest point since Dec. 30, that report said. 

As expected with a falling number of new cases, the positivity rate in testing has also started to drop off. That number reached a high of 29.3% on Jan. 10, a percentage that has since declined to less than 20%, according to DHS numbers.

Although hospitalizations saw a slight increase Jan. 31, the need for COVID-19 in-patient treatment has generally been decreasing of late. The Wisconsin Hospital Association told Fox11 that hospitals were treating 1,579 coronavirus patients on Jan. 31. That was up from 1,564 on Jan. 30 but down more than 350 from a week earlier. 

The omicron variant, which was identified in late November, has been responsible for soaring numbers of new cases across America for the past couple of months.

From the time the pandemic started in early 2020 until Jan. 31, Wisconsin has reported more than 1.3 million COVID-19 cases and 12,453 confirmed and suspected deaths.