Wisconsin COVID-19 death average hits Zero

MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) - Zero.

The seven-day rolling average for COVID-19 deaths hit zero on Tuesday after weeks spent mostly hovering in the one or two per day for much the last several weeks.

The state Department of Health Services reported the milestone number in its latest daily update. While the number is reported as zero, that does not mean no deaths have been reported in the past week. In fact, there were two deaths in the past seven days. That breaks down to 0.29 deaths per day, which health officials round down to a goose egg.

The last time the average sat this low was March 22, 2020, when the only two deaths reported over that prior week were the first two ever recorded in Wisconsin. Ever since then, the average has never fallen lower than where it stood Tuesday, and it only fell to zero (with rounding) once in that entire nearly 800-day span.

While the DHS page dedicated to COVID-19 deaths reflected zero deaths per day and its underlying data showing 0.29 deaths, its summary page still reported the average as one.

While the rolling average for deaths hit that near all-time low Tuesday, the average for cases is only off about ten percent from the three-month high set early last week.

State health officials tallied 1,598 cases over the past day, which allowed the average to slip to 1,871 per day over the previous week. The rolling average has declined every day since May 15 when hit 2,200 per day.

However, this latest surge still pales compared to the spike in cases that peaked in January when DHS was reported over 10,000 per day.

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