Milwaukee health official calls to revisit school mask rules Latest vaccine numbers
As COVID-19 metrics continue to decline both nationally and locally, Milwaukee officials believe now is the time to begin discussing school mask mandates and the citywide mask mandate currently active.
“Certainly I think it’s time to start having these discussions. It may not be time to drop the masking requirements, but it’s time to start the discussions,” said Ben Weston, chief health policy advisor for Milwaukee County, during Tuesday’s COVID-19 media briefing.
Weston said school officials need to use metrics when making these decisions and the average of daily COVID-19 cases, hospitalization and positivity rate in Milwaukee County have all been on a steady decline for a month now, coinciding with statewide and national trends following the omicron variant surge.
Weston reminded the public that the major reasons for a decline in metrics are mitigation measures and vaccination rates. “People don’t distance, people don’t mask, there just is more spread of disease ... A big part of it is certainly immunity. Vaccine derived immunity, the safest way to get immunity,” he said.
As school officials in the county will certainly be debating removing mitigation measures from its schools, Acting Mayor Cavalier Johnson has long stated that he would revisit the city’s mask mandate if metrics began to decline.
The City of Milwaukee has been under a mask mandate since last month, although there has been little if any enforcement. The current measure adopted by the common council and signed by the mayor, is set to expire March 1.
“If trends with COVID continue to go in a positive direction, it can always be reconsidered ... I’d be interested in reviewing that legislation,” Johnson said of ending the mask mandate early. He added that it is under the common council’s purview to change the legislation.
On the state level, the state Department of Health Services reported a decline in average cases and positivity rate. The Wisconsin Hospital Association also reported a decline in the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations.
Latest COVID-19 numbers
● New cases reported: 1,935
● New deaths reported, confirmed: 63
● New deaths reported, probable: 7
● Number hospitalized: 1,207 (intensive care: 228); down 897 patients from a month ago
● Seven-day average of daily cases: 3,142 (down 6,453 cases from one month ago)
● Seven-day average of confirmed daily deaths: 35
● Seven-day average of new deaths reported within 30 days of death: 19 (down five deaths from a month ago)
● Seven-day average positivity rate: 13.6% of all COVID-19 tests given
● Total cases since the start of pandemic: 1,357,698
● Total confirmed deaths: 11,450 Total probable deaths: 1,289
● Total doses administered:
9,076,981
● Daily doses administered: 3,403
● Seven-day average of daily doses: 5,506
● Total booster doses administered: 1,889,660
● Daily booster doses administered: 1,590
● Seven-day average of daily booster doses: 2,491
● Residents who have received one dose: 3,701,609 (63.5% of the population)
● Residents who are fully vaccinated: 3,479,504 (59.7% of the population)
Variant case sequencing
State and private labs regularly do further tests on a portion of positive COVID-19 samples to find the prevalence of different variants of the virus.
Omicron variant was identified in 100% of tests sequenced during the week starting Jan. 30.