Milwaukee Now Has Worst COVID-19 Outbreak in Wisconsin
For the first time since April, Milwaukee County has highest per-capita rate and greatest number of cases.
COVID-19. Credit: U.S. Army.
Milwaukee County now has the worst COVID-19 outbreak in Wisconsin.
Based on its population, the county has long had the greatest number of cases in the state. Data released Saturday afternoon by the state Department of Health Services shows that 10,167 county residents have tested positive since the start of the outbreak. The next closest county, Brown County, has seen 2,572 residents test positive.
But on a per-capita basis Milwaukee County has long been in second, if not third, for the scale of its outbreak. It last had the greatest per-capita outbreak on April 24th and shortly thereafter Brown County had nearly doubled Milwaukee’s outbreak on a per-capita basis due to a number of outbreaks at food processing and meatpacking plants.
Racine County overtook Brown County on a per-capita basis on June 3rd, and Milwaukee did as well shortly thereafter. In the past week Milwaukee caught up to Racine as well.
As of June 20th, Milwaukee is back in the lead of a race no county wants to win.
According to DHS data, 1,065.5 out of every 100,000 Milwaukee County residents have tested positive for COVID-19 (up from 1053.1). Racine County has 1,064 cases per 100,000 residents (up from 1057.3). Brown County, which is anchored by Green Bay, has 990 cases per 100,000 residents (up from 977).
Kenosha (835.3), Dodge (494.4), Rock (484), Walworth (482.5), Forest (388.1), Winnebago (349), Lafayette (316.7) and Trempealeau (309.1) are the only other counties with more than 300 cases per 100,000 residents.
Across Wisconsin, 10,197 tests were processed in the past 24 hours, above the 30-day average of 10,066.
From those tests, 385 came back positive, the second-greatest total in the past two weeks. Statewide 24,539 people have tested positive for the disease since the outbreak began.
The 385 positive tests represent a positive rate of 3.78 percent, the second-highest rate in the past two weeks. The seven-day positive test rate average now stands at 3.36 percent and the 14-day average is 2.76 percent. Both averages had trended downward, something public health officials are looking for as evidence of a slowing disease, until the last couple days of the week.
And despite the uptick in the number of cases and the percentage of tests coming back positive, the number of people hospitalized continued to fall. There are 239 people hospitalized in Wisconsin with COVID-19 according to the Wisconsin Hospital Association. That’s the lowest figure since the association first reported the figure on April 2nd (197). A total of 26 people were newly admitted in the past 24 hours, below the 30-day average of 33. DHS reports that 3,203 people (13 percent of confirmed cases) have required hospitalization since the outbreak began.
A state health official attributed much of the decline in the number of people hospitalized to the declining age of those contracting the disease.
The death toll from the disease climbed to 744 on Saturday, with 14 newly-confirmed deaths in the past 24 hours. Approximately three percent of people with a confirmed case of the disease have died.
The state health department reports that 77 percent of individuals with a confirmed case have recovered, as defined by a documented abatement of symptoms or a diagnosis over 30 days ago. The totals only reflect the number of confirmed cases.
There are currently 970 ventilators and 296 intensive care unit (ICU) beds available across the state according to the Wisconsin Hospital Association. Since the data became publicly available on April 10th, WHA has reported an average of 939 ventilators and 404 ICU beds as available.
Charts and Maps
Wisconsin COVID-19 summary by person
Data from DHS.
Percent of COVID-19 cases by hospitalization status
| Hospitalization status | Number of confirmed cases as of 6/20/2020 | Percent of confirmed cases as of 6/20/2020 |
|---|---|---|
| Ever hospitalized | 3,203 | 13% |
| Never hospitalized | 14,314 | 58% |
| Unknown | 7,022 | 29% |
| Total | 24,539 | 100% |
Summary of COVID-19 cases by age group
| Age Group (Years) | Cases as of 6/20/2020 | Ever hospitalized as of 6/20/2020 | Any Intensive Care as of 6/20/2020 | Deaths as of 6/20/2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| <10 | 772 | 23 | 2 | 0 |
| 10-19 | 1,824 | 47 | 3 | 0 |
| 20-29 | 4,907 | 168 | 23 | 7 |
| 30-39 | 4,443 | 256 | 36 | 8 |
| 40-49 | 3,929 | 379 | 83 | 22 |
| 50-59 | 3,577 | 544 | 127 | 58 |
| 60-69 | 2,480 | 679 | 201 | 125 |
| 70-79 | 1,320 | 564 | 138 | 196 |
| 80-89 | 850 | 393 | 68 | 184 |
| 90+ | 437 | 150 | 27 | 144 |
| Total | 24,539 | 3,203 | 708 | 744 |
Confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths by gender
Data from DHS.
Confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths by race
Data from DHS.
Confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths by ethnicity
Data from DHS.
Number of positive cases and deaths by county
| Wisconsin County | Positive as of 6/20/2020 | Negative as of 6/20/2020 | Deaths as of 6/20/2020 | Rate (positive cases per 100,000 people) as of 6/20/2020 | Case fatality percentage (percent of cases who died) as of 6/20/2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adams | 10 | 1,291 | 2 | 49.8 | 20% |
| Ashland | 3 | 661 | 0 | 19.1 | 0% |
| Barron | 31 | 3,257 | 0 | 68.5 | 0% |
| Bayfield | 3 | 951 | 1 | 20.0 | 33% |
| Brown | 2,572 | 28,391 | 39 | 990.0 | 2% |
| Buffalo | 6 | 874 | 2 | 45.6 | 33% |
| Burnett | 2 | 727 | 1 | 13.1 | 50% |
| Calumet | 90 | 2,880 | 2 | 180.7 | 2% |
| Chippewa | 67 | 4,198 | 0 | 105.3 | 0% |
| Clark | 58 | 1,824 | 6 | 168.2 | 10% |
| Columbia | 64 | 4,220 | 1 | 112.4 | 2% |
| Crawford | 29 | 2,133 | 0 | 178.0 | 0% |
| Dane | 1,063 | 51,835 | 32 | 200.6 | 3% |
| Dodge | 434 | 8,459 | 5 | 494.4 | 1% |
| Door | 40 | 2,429 | 3 | 145.8 | 8% |
| Douglas | 20 | 1,965 | 0 | 46.1 | 0% |
| Dunn | 29 | 3,054 | 0 | 65.2 | 0% |
| Eau Claire | 156 | 7,017 | 0 | 151.5 | 0% |
| Florence | 2 | 346 | 0 | 46.1 | 0% |
| Fond du Lac | 286 | 8,369 | 6 | 279.5 | 2% |
| Forest | 35 | 455 | 3 | 388.1 | 9% |
| Grant | 124 | 4,170 | 12 | 239.3 | 10% |
| Green | 79 | 2,526 | 1 | 214.3 | 1% |
| Green Lake | 24 | 1,512 | 0 | 128.0 | 0% |
| Iowa | 19 | 1,895 | 0 | 80.4 | 0% |
| Iron | 2 | 321 | 1 | 35.0 | 50% |
| Jackson | 24 | 2,098 | 1 | 117.0 | 4% |
| Jefferson | 172 | 5,368 | 4 | 203.2 | 2% |
| Juneau | 27 | 2,207 | 1 | 102.2 | 4% |
| Kenosha | 1,406 | 14,689 | 39 | 835.3 | 3% |
| Kewaunee | 43 | 1,219 | 1 | 211.2 | 2% |
| La Crosse | 229 | 8,984 | 0 | 194.3 | 0% |
| Lafayette | 53 | 1,050 | 0 | 316.7 | 0% |
| Langlade | 7 | 1,158 | 0 | 36.5 | 0% |
| Lincoln | 8 | 1,368 | 0 | 28.7 | 0% |
| Manitowoc | 63 | 5,011 | 1 | 79.3 | 2% |
| Marathon | 107 | 5,736 | 1 | 79.1 | 1% |
| Marinette | 42 | 3,836 | 3 | 103.6 | 7% |
| Marquette | 9 | 940 | 1 | 59.2 | 11% |
| Menominee | 4 | 1,002 | 0 | 87.4 | 0% |
| Milwaukee | 10,167 | 91,190 | 371 | 1065.5 | 4% |
| Monroe | 45 | 3,883 | 1 | 98.9 | 2% |
| Oconto | 46 | 2,816 | 0 | 122.5 | 0% |
| Oneida | 17 | 1,963 | 0 | 48.1 | 0% |
| Outagamie | 387 | 12,949 | 8 | 209.5 | 2% |
| Ozaukee | 204 | 5,523 | 15 | 231.1 | 7% |
| Pepin | 1 | 489 | 0 | 13.8 | 0% |
| Pierce | 57 | 2,251 | 0 | 137.0 | 0% |
| Polk | 40 | 2,960 | 1 | 92.3 | 3% |
| Portage | 90 | 4,611 | 0 | 127.5 | 0% |
| Price | 2 | 803 | 0 | 14.8 | 0% |
| Racine | 2,079 | 21,056 | 58 | 1064.0 | 3% |
| Richland | 15 | 1,298 | 4 | 85.5 | 27% |
| Rock | 783 | 13,486 | 23 | 484.0 | 3% |
| Rusk | 11 | 647 | 0 | 77.6 | 0% |
| Sauk | 94 | 5,722 | 3 | 147.8 | 3% |
| Sawyer | 9 | 1,648 | 0 | 55.0 | 0% |
| Shawano | 68 | 3,152 | 0 | 165.8 | 0% |
| Sheboygan | 179 | 7,171 | 4 | 155.4 | 2% |
| St. Croix | 126 | 5,014 | 1 | 143.3 | 1% |
| Taylor | 9 | 832 | 0 | 44.2 | 0% |
| Trempealeau | 91 | 2,964 | 0 | 309.1 | 0% |
| Vernon | 29 | 2,036 | 0 | 95.0 | 0% |
| Vilas | 10 | 932 | 0 | 46.3 | 0% |
| Walworth | 497 | 7,125 | 18 | 482.5 | 4% |
| Washburn | 4 | 1,015 | 0 | 25.5 | 0% |
| Washington | 313 | 7,714 | 13 | 232.7 | 4% |
| Waukesha | 991 | 18,304 | 38 | 248.4 | 4% |
| Waupaca | 89 | 4,281 | 5 | 173.0 | 6% |
| Waushara | 20 | 2,259 | 0 | 82.9 | 0% |
| Winnebago | 593 | 14,125 | 11 | 349.0 | 2% |
| Wood | 31 | 3,918 | 1 | 42.3 | 3% |
| Total | 24,539 | 454,563 | 744 | 424.7 | 3% |
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