Serving Algoma, Casco, Kewaunee, Luxemburg and all of Kewaunee County
Door County continues to have one of the highest rates of residents who've received the coronavirus vaccine as the Wisconsin Department of Health Services prepares to expand its list of people eligible to receive it to include adults with pre-existing or chronic medical conditions.
According to the state health department, 8,117 Door County residents, 29.3% of the county population, have received at least one dose of the two-dose vaccines made by Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech, with 5,102 of those, 18.5% of the population, having received both doses. The percentage of residents with at least one dose is fourth most among the state's 72 counties, while the percentage of those with both doses is sixth-most in the state. The total of vaccines takes into account those administered by the Door County Health and Human Services Department, Door County Medical Center and participating pharmacies.
Providers in Kewaunee County have administered at least one dose of the vaccine to 4,048 people, 19.8% of its population, while 2,281 people (11.2%) have received both doses, according to the state. Those percentages remain slightly ahead of those for vaccines given across Wisconsin, which has had 18.4% of its population receive at least one dose and 10.4% both doses.
Meanwhile, the state health department moved up its schedule to vaccinate people who were placed in Phase 1C of its rollout of the vaccine, specifically adults with chronic or underlying health conditions, which could make them more vulnerable to the virus and its complications.
The state said this week people in this phase will be eligible for vaccines starting March 22, a change from the March 29 date announced less than a week earlier.
When the phased rollout was first announced, it was expected this group wouldn't become eligible until mid-April at the earliest, but the state health department moved up the date as it faced criticism for delaying eligibility for this group because of their vulnerability to serious health complications, as well as a possible greater availability of doses.
A partial list of those conditions includes cancer, asthma, heart disease, COPD, diabetes, obesity, cystic fibrosis, pregnancy and a variety of blood and neurological disorders.
However, how soon this group will be able to get their shots in any county depends on the availability of the doses. Counties across the state are not yet receiving all the doses they're requesting because of supply shortages, which has been the case since the vaccines became available. All doses come from the federal government, and the Wisconsin Department of Health Services distributes them. It's also not yet known how the new vaccine from Johnson & Johnson, approved for use two weeks ago, might affect local supplies and scheduling because the state hasn't announced how and when it will distribute the vaccine locally.
The Kewaunee County and Door County health departments continue to emphasize that people who signed up for vaccines through the health departments but received their vaccines elsewhere (from a health care provider or pharmacy) should inform their health departments they no longer need to be on a waiting list to make scheduling more efficient.
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Meanwhile, the percentage of positive tests for coronavirus fell dramatically in Kewaunee County for the seven days from March 9 to 15. The positivity rate over a given time is a metric used by many health organizations to gauge the spread of the virus in a community, and the World Health Organization has said that a rate of more than 5% is concerning because it means testing isn’t widespread enough to capture the spread of the virus among the general population.
Kewaunee County's rate over the week ending Monday was 4%, with five positive results from a total of 125 tests. It's the lowest recorded seven-day rate for the county in months and means its rate has been below 10% in three of the past four weeks; the rate for the week ending last Monday was 10.1%. For comparison, the state rate over the same time was 2.3%.
Door County's positivity rate for the week ending Monday was 10.6%, a slight decrease from 11.4% a week earlier.
Also, no deaths were reported because of COVID-19 complications in the past week in either county; Kewaunee County, with a total of 34 deaths from the virus, hasn't reported one in eight weeks and Door County, whose toll is 20, hasn't had one in two weeks. One Door County resident was hospitalized because of the virus in the past week, none in Kewaunee County.
Statistics as of Monday, March 15 (provided by the county and state health departments) are as follows:
Positive tests in past week (March 9-15):
Negative tests in past week:
Seven-day percentage of positive tests (positivity rate):
Cumulative positivity rate since testing began:
Positive tests per 100,000 residents over past week:
Deaths from COVID-19 complications:
Hospitalizations from the virus in past week:
Active cases:
Recovered cases:
Total vaccines given:
Vaccines given in past week:
Vaccines requested and received for this week:
People on waiting list:
Contact Christopher Clough at 920-741-7952, 920-562-8900 or cclough@doorcountyadvocate.com.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: COVID-19 update: Door County vaccination rates remain high; Kewaunee County positive test rate falls
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