Undervaccinated Parts Of Wisconsin Could See COVID-19 Surge

ACROSS WISCONSIN — Many municipalities across Wisconsin are highly vaccinated. Some areas are boasting rates of up to 60 or 70 percent. Other counties across the state are falling behind, leaving them at risk for another surge in COVID-19.

The city of Milwaukee is one example. Only 42 percent of the city is vaccinated, a steep cliff when compared with the 60, 70 and even 80 percent single-dose rates found in parts of the Milwaukee metropolitan area.

So far, 51.2 percent of Wisconsin has completed vaccination against COVID-19. Weekly vaccination rates are drastically down. Last week, only about 38,000 people got vaccinated in Wisconsin. In one week of April alone, over 400,000 people got the vaccine. Dane County is the most vaccinated part of the state.

See detailed vaccine data map from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services

Health experts have said that although the risk of getting sick from the delta variant is low for those who have been fully vaccinated, its spread could delay the end of the pandemic.

“Delta will certainly accelerate the pandemic” around the world, F. Perry Wilson, a Yale Medicine epidemiologist, said in a statement.

The delta variant, which was first seen in India and was first detected in the United States in March, spreads 50 percent faster than the alpha variant that originated in Great Britain, which itself spreads 50 percent faster than the original coronavirus strain, according to Yale Medicine.

Andy Slavitt, a former member of President Joe Biden’s Covid Response Team, told CNN the delta variant is “the 2020 version of COVID-19 on steroids.”

“It’s twice as infectious,” Slavitt said. “Fortunately, unlike 2020, we actually have a tool that stops the delta variant in its tracks: It’s called vaccine.”

That’s evidenced in North Carolina, among other states, where the state’s health secretary said more than 99 percent of the new cases there have occurred in people who are not fully vaccinated, according to WITN.

As of July 8, 24 states were looking at a coronavirus case weekly uptick of 10 percent or more, Johns Hopkins University data shows.

States within regions showing a high cluster of delta variant cases are among those lagging in vaccination rates, WBUR and others have reported. In the region including Wisconsin, the delta variant accounted for 38 percent of recent cases, a map from Fortune.com shows.

Which Wisconsin Counties Are At The Highest Risk?

Rusk County: 33 percent of all residents have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Taylor County: 27 percent of all residents have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Clark County: 28 percent of all residents have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Shawano County: 37 percent of all residents have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Waushara County: 36 percent of all residents have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Dodge County: 41 percent of all residents have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Wisconsin Counties That Are The Most Vaccinated

Dane County: 67 percent of all people have completed the COVID-19 vaccine series.

Door County: 64.5 percent of all people have completed the COVID-19 vaccine series.

Brown County: 60 percent of all people have completed the COVID-19 vaccine series.

William Bornhoft contributed to this article.