FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 26, 2022

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.

###