Dane County’s total death toll from COVID-19 grew to 251 this morning, as seven more fatalities were reported. Though those in 70 and older have been hardest hit with one additional death reported in each of the 70s, 80s, and 90s age groups, four of the deaths reported by Public Health of Madison and Dane County this morning were those in their 60s and younger. There were two deaths reported in those in their 60s, one in their 50s, and one person in their 40s.
Even with four deaths reported for those 60 and younger, those in their 70s and older still account for 84 percent of all deaths in the county.
Six of the deaths reported today were attributed to January increasing this months’ total to 35 while one was added to the month of October.
Of those seven deaths reported today, two of the people who passed away identified as Hispanic/Latinx.
PHMDC also reported 136 new COVID cases today, bringing the county’s cumulative total to 37,857. Dane County’s current recovered case count is now at 35,521 while active cases dropped to 1,927 or five percent of current cases, according to DHS’ update at 2pm yesterday. Out of all cases in Dane County, about 51 percent of cases were in Madison while 49 percent have been outside of Madison.
Testing has increased as UW students have returned and the campus is requiring regular testing of all students. This could lead to an increase in total positive cases, as well as a decrease in positive test rate.
As of yesterday’s dashboard update on UW’s website, UW is averaging 4,050 tests a day for the past seven days for on-campus testing with an average of 21 cases per day for the same time frame for both off and on campus testing. Their positivity rate rose to 0.5 percent based on on-campus testing only for both UW students and staff for the past 7 days.
For Dane County, the 14-day positive test rate as of January 26 is now at 2.6 while the seven-day rate remains at 2.1. These rates do not include preliminary data from the past four days as that data continues to adjust as more tests are attributed.
Hospitalizations in Dane County, including both residents of Dane County and people from neighboring counties, dropped significantly today with 34 less people in the hospital this morning as compared to yesterday. As of this morning, there are now 53 people currently hospitalized from COVID-19 in area hospitals. Of those 53 currently hospitalized, 21 are in the ICU.
For Dane County residents, the number of people ever hospitalized for COVID-19 has grown to 1,143
According to DHS’ website, as of January 29, preliminary information indicates that Dane County has administered 63,942 doses of vaccine, the most of any county in Wisconsin. Information about the number of adults that have completed their vaccinations by county is not yet available.
Madison365 has updated our weekly map of COVID-19 cases in the county by census tract.
We will have an update later this afternoon for statewide numbers after 3 pm.
