City of Milwaukee Weekly COVID-19 Update

MILWAUKEE – This week, Milwaukee County remains in the Medium COVID-19 Community Level, based on U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines. This level is determined by three metrics:  new COVID-19 admissions per 100,000 population in the past 7 days, the percent of staffed inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 patients, and total new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 population in the past 7 days.

In Milwaukee County, the case rate per 100,000 population is184.2. This includes the city of Milwaukee’s rate of 176.1 per 100,000. There have been 12.4 new COVID-19 admissions per 100,000 population and 4.2% of staffed inpatient beds are in use by patients with confirmed COVID-19. Additional metrics, such as case burden and percent positivity, are accessible on MHD’s COVID-19 data dashboards.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has authorized the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine for Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) in children ages 12 to 17. Following the authorization, the CDC signed a recommendation for use of this vaccine to protect this newly-eligible age group against COVID-19. The Novavax vaccine was previously authorized for adults 18 years and older in July.

The Novavax COVID-19 vaccine is a traditional subunit protein vaccine. Vaccines that use subunit protein technology have been used for more than 30 years in the United States, beginning with the first licensed hepatitis B vaccine. Anyone 12 years of age and older who have not previously received an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine, such as Pfizer or Moderna, can visit any of the Milwaukee Health Department COVID-19 clinics to receive the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine.

Currently, 64.5% of city of Milwaukee adults 16 years and older are fully vaccinated, and 50.8% of fully vaccinated individuals have received a booster dose. Of children ages 5 to 11, 21.8% have completed their pediatric COVID-19 vaccine series and 26.1% have received at least one dose.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.