Dentists, With Proper Training, Can Now Administer COVID-19 Vaccines And Flu Shots In Wisconsin

COVID-19 Cases Hold Steady As The State Opens Vaccination To More Wisconsinites

By
A nurse fills a syringe with COVID-19 vaccine
A nurse fills a syringe with COVID-19 vaccine at a mass vaccination site in Kansas City, Mo., Friday, March 19, 2021. Orlin Wagner/AP Photo

Dentists in Wisconsin will be able to administer COVID-19 and flu vaccines under a bill signed into law Monday.

Wisconsin Act 8 requires dentists to go through training in administration, storage and record-keeping before they can administer the shots, among other conditions. The bill passed with broad bipartisan support, and comes as Wisconsin is opening up vaccine eligibility to Wisconsinites with preexisting conditions.

Stay informed on the latest news

Sign up for WPR’s email newsletter.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

New reports of COVID-19 cases are holding steady in the state, based on the latest data published by the state Department of Health Services.

DHS reported 338 new cases of the disease Monday, bringing the average for the past seven days to 405 daily cases. One week ago, the average was 437 daily cases. It’s typical for DHS to report fewer confirmed COVID-19 cases on Mondays, with labs usually posting fewer test results the day before.

There were 2,599 negative tests reported on Monday.

As COVID-19 cases in Wisconsin continue to hold far below their November peak, more of the state’s residents are being vaccinated against the disease.

A total of 2,350,826 doses of the coronavirus vaccine have been administered in Wisconsin as of Monday, with 49 percent of Wisconsinites age 65 and up fully vaccinated.

As of Monday, 860,062 people in Wisconsin, or 14.8 percent of the population, have been fully vaccinated.

Increasing rates of vaccination have provided a sense of hope after a yearlong pandemic that has claimed the lives of 6,576 people in Wisconsin. There were no new deaths from COVID-19 reported on Monday.

Other DHS data from Monday include:

  • 572,770 total cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began.
  • 3,261,456 total tests administered, 2,688,686 of which have been negative since the pandemic began.
  • 27,126 people have been hospitalized because of the disease, or 4.7 percent of all positive cases, since the pandemic began.
  • Daily testing capacity remains at 59,273, though only 2,937 new test results were reported Monday.

Coronavirus rates vary from county to county. In order to track COVID-19 activity levels, DHS looks at the number of new cases per a county’s population over a 14-day period — and whether there’s an upward or downward trend in new cases. Activity levels range from “critically high,” “very high,” “high,” “medium,” to “low.”

As of Wednesday, DHS data showed the state had no counties with “critically high” or “very high” levels of COVID-19 activity. The majority of Wisconsin counties have “high” levels of activity. There were growing case trajectories in Calumet, Dunn, Fond du Lac, La Crosse, Pierce and Taylor counties. Wisconsin’s overall COVID-19 activity level ishigh.”

For more about COVID-19, visit Coronavirus in Wisconsin.

___________________________