Covid WI status update: May 2

The Wisconsin Covid data are sending some mixed signals this week. Infections are probably flat or slightly down, hospitalizations still up from the recent small wave, and deaths flat. Cases in high schoolers may be up slightly, which is something to watch going forward.

The first mixed signal comes in cases and infections. Reported cases ticked back up a bit, but positivity rate was flat and cases by date of diagnosis seem to still be decreasing slightly. Overall my guess is that infections are still decreasing slightly.

Looking at cases by age group, there’s a hint that cases in the 14-17 group might be increasing. (Ignore the latest week in the plot below, data is incomplete for this most recent week.) This could make sense - they would socialize more than younger kids, but vaccinations are only cleared for 16 and older. This could also easily be a statistical blip, though. I’ll be watching it in the coming weeks.

The number of current people hospitalized is still elevated, but that’s to be expected since this metric lags cases. (Because it takes some time to get out of the hospital after you go in and get diagnosed.)

And finally, there was a larger than usual number of deaths reported this week, but that was at least mostly because of catch-up reporting. Deaths by day of death looks flat.

Overall it’s been a wait-and-see week.