Jeramey Jannene
WI Daily

Three Straight Days of Record COVID-19 Case Growth

Testing falls, but number of new cases keeps setting new highs. Why haven't hospitalizations followed suit?

By - Jul 11th, 2020 03:03 pm
COVID-19. Credit: U.S. Army.

COVID-19. Credit: U.S. Army.

For the third day in a row, Wisconsin set a new COVID-19 single-day case high. A total of 926 new cases were reported Saturday afternoon by the Department of Health Services, beating yesterday’s record high of 845 and a record 754 two days ago.

The record-setting case level comes as the number of tests processed has fallen for two straight days.

A total of 12,019 tests were processed over the past 24 hours, yielding a positive case rate of 7.7 percent. Wisconsin has averaged 9,807 processed tests per day over the past 30 days.

The 14-day positive case rate trend has now increased for 22 straight days, with the rolling average standing at 6.03 percent. The seven-day average is 6.47 percent. Public health officials have looked for those figures to trend downward as testing expands.

And while the number of new cases continues to grow, a lagging indicator of the disease’s spread, the number of hospitalizations, is holding relatively steady for now.

A total of 264 people are actively hospitalized with the disease according to the Wisconsin Hospital Association, a decrease of 14 from the day prior. DHS reports that 31 people were newly hospitalized in the past 24 hours, above the 30-day average of 27. Last week the state reported a three-month low 235 active hospitalizations.

The statewide death toll grew to 821, an increase of seven over the day prior. An average of 4.63 deaths per day have been reported over the past 30 days, while the single-day total has ranged between zero and 14.

Both hospitalizations and deaths are seen as lagging indicators of the spread of the disease by public health officials, but the disease has recently been spreading primarily among young residents that require less hospitalization and have a lower death rate.

On May 28th, individuals in the 20 to 29 age group represented 17.47 percent of all COVID-19 cases. That figure jumped to 21.8 percent by June 27th and now stands at 25 percent.

Between June 27th and July 11th, the 20-to-29 age group accounted for 35 percent of all new cases.

Over the length of the outbreak, the second most impacted age group is individuals ages 30 to 39 (18 percent).

Individuals under the age of 40 now represent 54 percent of all cases, but only two percent of the deaths (17).

The younger age group also has a substantially lower hospitalization rate. Individuals under 40 have a hospitalization rate of three percent, while individuals 40 and older have a 19 percent hospitalization rate.

According to DHS data, 1,431.7 out of every 100,000 Milwaukee County residents have tested positive for COVID-19 (up from 1,395.1) since the outbreak began. Brown County, which is anchored by Green Bay, has 1,230.6 cases per 100,000 residents (up from 1,210.2). Racine County has 1,190.4 cases per 100,000 residents (up from 1,180.2).

Kenosha (1,020), Walworth (730), Rock (632.4), Trempealeau (604.7), Dodge (582.2), Dane (544.3), Forest (532.3), La Crosse (493.8), Lafayette (466.1), Winnebago (447.3), Jefferson (415.8) and Waukesha (408.6) are the only other counties with more than 400 cases per 100,000 residents.

The statewide average of cases per 100,000 residents rose to 617.5 (up from 601.4 yesterday).

According to data last updated Wednesday, Dane County has the fastest growing spread, followed by Milwaukee, Trempealeau, Walworth, La Crosse, Marquette and Brown counties.

There are currently 952 ventilators and 323 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 945 ventilators and 389 ICU beds as available.

Charts and Maps

Data from DHS.

Percent of COVID-19 cases by hospitalization status

Hospitalization status Number of confirmed cases as of 7/11/2020 Percent of confirmed cases as of 7/11/2020
Ever hospitalized 3,797 11%
Never hospitalized 20,661 58%
Unknown 11,221 31%
Total 35,679 100%

Summary of COVID-19 cases by age group

Data from DHS.

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 7/11/2020 Negative as of 7/11/2020 Deaths as of 7/11/2020 Rate (positive cases per 100,000 people) as of 7/11/2020 Case fatality percentage (percent of cases who died) as of 7/11/2020
Adams 37 1,788 2 184.3 5%
Ashland 7 993 0 44.6 0%
Barron 43 4,136 1 95.0 2%
Bayfield 6 1,201 1 40.0 17%
Brown 3,197 34,421 44 1230.6 1%
Buffalo 13 1,138 2 98.7 15%
Burnett 5 1,039 1 32.8 20%
Calumet 151 4,020 2 303.2 1%
Chippewa 132 6,627 0 207.4 0%
Clark 99 2,549 7 287.0 7%
Columbia 116 6,803 1 203.7 1%
Crawford 45 2,677 0 276.3 0%
Dane 2,884 83,969 33 544.3 1%
Dodge 511 11,834 5 582.2 1%
Door 53 3,122 3 193.2 6%
Douglas 56 2,826 0 129.0 0%
Dunn 54 4,022 0 121.4 0%
Eau Claire 332 9,960 1 322.4 0%
Florence 4 461 0 92.2 0%
Fond du Lac 374 11,156 6 365.5 2%
Forest 48 650 3 532.3 6%
Grant 198 6,230 13 382.0 7%
Green 106 3,394 1 287.5 1%
Green Lake 42 1,873 0 223.9 0%
Iowa 45 2,885 0 190.5 0%
Iron 10 464 2 175.0 20%
Jackson 34 4,099 1 165.8 3%
Jefferson 352 7,910 4 415.8 1%
Juneau 50 4,224 1 189.3 2%
Kenosha 1,717 18,973 46 1020.0 3%
Kewaunee 75 1,787 1 368.4 1%
La Crosse 582 13,901 0 493.8 0%
Lafayette 78 1,551 0 466.1 0%
Langlade 10 1,548 1 52.2 10%
Lincoln 21 2,108 0 75.4 0%
Manitowoc 147 7,222 1 185.1 1%
Marathon 268 8,231 1 198.1 0%
Marinette 89 4,797 3 219.6 3%
Marquette 49 1,326 1 322.2 2%
Menominee 9 1,327 0 196.5 0%
Milwaukee 13,661 123,536 398 1431.7 3%
Monroe 130 5,372 1 285.7 1%
Oconto 78 4,126 0 207.7 0%
Oneida 28 2,874 0 79.2 0%
Outagamie 633 17,598 9 342.6 1%
Ozaukee 303 7,330 16 343.2 5%
Pepin 14 648 0 192.8 0%
Pierce 99 3,123 0 238.0 0%
Polk 68 4,208 2 156.9 3%
Portage 234 6,357 0 331.4 0%
Price 8 1,107 0 59.3 0%
Racine 2,326 30,612 65 1190.4 3%
Richland 16 1,783 4 91.2 25%
Rock 1,023 17,575 24 632.4 2%
Rusk 11 906 1 77.6 9%
Sauk 147 7,738 3 231.1 2%
Sawyer 15 1,963 0 91.6 0%
Shawano 94 4,583 0 229.2 0%
Sheboygan 283 10,243 4 245.6 1%
St. Croix 263 7,377 2 299.1 1%
Taylor 17 1,195 0 83.5 0%
Trempealeau 178 3,759 0 604.7 0%
Vernon 40 2,980 0 131.1 0%
Vilas 16 1,387 0 74.1 0%
Walworth 752 10,795 18 730.0 2%
Washburn 6 1,264 0 38.2 0%
Washington 482 9,777 19 358.3 4%
Waukesha 1,630 31,834 40 408.6 2%
Waupaca 169 5,446 13 328.5 8%
Waushara 43 3,918 0 178.3 0%
Winnebago 760 19,797 13 447.3 2%
Wood 103 6,051 1 140.6 1%
Total 35,679 646,504 821 617.5 2%

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