What you used to judge largely by a bunch of numbers will now be assigned a single word and a color in Door County when it comes to COVID-19.

The number of cases in Door County has been measured in single digits for the last several of the biweekly situation updates. That has mirrored what has been seen in the state, which as of Wednesday had a seven-day average of 600 and a positivity rate of 4.1 percent. That is down from 4,679 new cases and a 17.3 percent positivity rate on February 3rd and 18,836 new cases and a 27 percent positivity rate at the surge’s height on January 20th.  Last week, the Centers for Disease Control shifted its focus when it comes to monitoring COVID-19 from total infections to hospitalizations and deaths.

A community’s COVID-19 level will now be determined the number of new hospitalizations for COVID-19, current hospital beds occupied by COVID-19 patients or hospital capacity, and additional cases. Using that data, it will be determined if a community’s COVID-19 level is low (green), medium (yellow), or high (red). Door County Public Health Sue Powers says the new reporting system is a sign that things are getting better.

Door County’s current level is medium, which means more people are experiencing severe disease in the community and they are having an impact on the healthcare system. Wearing a mask is a personal preference, but you are encouraged to talk to your doctor about whether you need to and take other precautions if you are at high risk for severe illness. Powers says the now weekly report will still include the raw numbers of how many new positive tests, deaths, and hospitalizations have been reported. You can find more information about the new COVID-19 situation update levels by clicking this link.