Boosters available for eligible people in Milwaukee
Individuals who are immunocompromised are now eligible to receive a third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine from the City of Milwaukee Health Department, Mayor Tom Barrett announced at a press conference.
This would allow individuals who may not have had as robust an initial response to the vaccine series to receive a third shot of either the Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
This comes at a time when the delta variant is ripping through the country and state. Ben Weston, medical services director for Milwaukee County’s Office of Emergency Management said in an interview with the Journal Sentinel last week that the death rate would be the next metric to watch closely as it relates to the delta variant.
The state Department of Health Services reported a single-day count of 12 COVID-19 deaths on Tuesday — the highest mark since May 17. The sevenday average of daily deaths increased to three deaths a day.
Barrett’s announcement follows the recent U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval of an additional booster dose for both the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and the Moderna vaccine for certain immunocompromised individuals.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have released factors that qualify individuals to receive the third shot, including people who are undergoing treatment for solid tumor cancers or cancers such as leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma; those who have received an organ transplant or are undergoing immunosuppressive therapy; and people with an advanced or untreated HIV infection.
Anyone unsure if they qualify for an additional dose should talk with their primary health care provider before getting a third shot.
The Health Department’s Northwest Health Center, 7630 W. Mill Rd., and Southside Health Center, 1639 S. 23rd St. will have third shots available. No appointment is necessary.
This does not include those who received the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Those who have compromised immune systems and received the Johnson & Johnson shot should talk to their healthcare providers for guidance, Weston said.
Booster shots of the vaccines are also still not available to those who are not immunocompromised.
City mask mandate discussion expected in September
As Madison and Chicago announced indoor mask mandates Tuesday, Barrett said the city would assess in September whether a new mandate is “the proper step.”
The Common Council is currently on its August recess, and no special meetings have been called to take up council members’ proposed legislation on indoor masking and vaccination and COVID-19 testing mandates for city employees.
Barrett noted that Milwaukee’s nowended mask mandate was created through ordinance – not an order of the city’s top health official – in order to avoid legal challenges.
“I think we all recognize that this has become a very political issue,” Barrett said. “We know the (state) Supreme Court has not viewed health department orders particularly sympathetically, and so our plan is to continue to work with the council. We are monitoring these numbers very, very closely.”
Latest COVID-19 numbers
New cases reported: 1,666
New deaths reported: 12 Number hospitalized: 660 (intensive care: 204); up 562 patients from a month ago
Seven-day average of daily cases: 1,218 (up 1,065 cases from one month ago)
Seven-day average of daily deaths: 3 (up 3 deaths from one month ago)
Seven-day average positivity rate — as a share of all tests given: 7.1%
Total cases since the start of pandemic: 640,248
Total deaths: 7,483
Latest vaccine numbers
Total doses administered:
5,957,400
Daily doses administered: 3,984 Seven-day average of daily doses: 6,980
Residents who have received one dose: 3,110,548 (53.4% of the population)
Residents who are fully vaccinated: 2,922,356 (50.2% of the population)
Adults who have received one dose: 2,928,542 (64.3% of the 18+ population)
Adults who are fully vaccinated: 2,769,322 (60.8% of the 18+ population)
Variant cases of concern
DHS, the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene and other laboratory partners regularly perform whole genome sequencing on a portion of positive tests. The numbers below do not represent the total number of variant cases.
Cases of the alpha (B.1.1.7) variant: 3,614
Cases of the beta (B.1.351) variant:
67
Cases of the delta (B.1.617.2) variant: 461 (100% of tests sequenced during the week of Aug. 2— the latest week with results)
Cases of the gamma (P.1): variant:
312