COVID receding fast in Wisconsin. Good trend, but we've seen that before

This is a nice illustration of where things are going on the COVID situation in Wisconsin.

UPDATED: Disease activity in #Wisconsin now shows 55 counties have moved from the critically high to very high category – from rates of 1,000+ cases per 100,000 residents to 350+ per 100,000. Thank you for your efforts to #StopTheSpread.
➡️ See the data: https://t.co/qZw0nSnWe6 pic.twitter.com/iXHncyf4Zo

— WIDeptHealthServices (@DHSWI) February 16, 2022

We're now down to the lowest level of cases since early September, just above 1,600 cases a day on a 7-day average, with 27 straight days of declines.

The amount of severe COVID illnesses are also falling fast, and should continue to decline as that follows the trend of new cases. COVID-related hospitalizations and ICU admissions are at their lowest levels in 6 months.

COVID deaths are also plummeting in Wisconsin, down by 2/3 after peaking in mid-December.

All of this is great, and is likely a big reason behind Dane County getting rid of its mask mandate in 2 weeks, and many UW System schools are also planning to end their mask mandates next month. My boosted self definitely feels a lot more comfortable doing events inside and in large crowds than I would have a month ago.

But we also saw cases and deaths decline this time last year, when we thought the pandemic was ending as people were first getting vaccinated. And just because masks aren't going to be mandated, it doesn't mean that masking should necessarily go away - risk factors should be accounted for by all of us. So while the clouds of COVID are lifting, and will likely clear up more as the weather warms and people do more things outside, it would be a big error to pretend that we're going back to the pre-2020 World where there was no COVID to be aware of.