Jeramey Jannene
WI Daily

Four Straight Days of Over 750 New COVID-19 Cases

But a negative death total, how did that happen?

By - Jul 12th, 2020 03:51 pm
COVID-19. Credit: U.S. Army.

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

Five days ago Wisconsin had never recorded over 750 new COVID-19 cases in a single day. Now it has done so for four straight days.

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services reported 769 newly-confirmed COVID-19 cases on Sunday afternoon.

Sunday’s report came from only 7,617 processed tests, the lowest testing total by over 4,000 in the four-day stretch. DHS has reported an average of 9,673 tests per day over the past 30 days.

As a result of the lower testing total, the 24-hour positive case rate, the percentage of tests that indicate a case, jumped to 10.1 percent.

The 14-day positive case rate now stands at 6.2 percent, a figure that has ticked upward for 24 straight days from a low of 2.69 percent.

The state has reported one day with a positive case rate below three percent since the upward trend started on June 19th. Immediately prior to the upward trend beginning, DHS reported 12 of 14 days with a positive case rate below three percent, even off of below-average testing totals.

DHS also reported a period of 61 straight days without a single-day positive case rate of 10 percent or greater, but the state has now exceeded the figure in three of the past nine days.

A total of 36,448 people have tested positive for the disease since the outbreak began with 14,202 in the past 30 days and 4,871 in the past week.  DHS reports that 78 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 percent fell from a high of 79 as a surge in new cases has been reported.

A total of 264 people are actively hospitalized with the disease according to the Wisconsin Hospital Association, the same as the day prior. DHS reports that 27 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 of 235 active hospitalizations.

The statewide death toll fell to 820, the second time DHS has reported no new deaths and actually reduced the number of reported deaths. “This death was reported to us in error and the correction has decreased the death count by one,” said DHS about the latest change.

It’s the sixth time in the past 15 days that no new deaths have been reported. An average of 4.37 deaths per day have been reported over the past 30 days, down from 8.74 deaths per day in the 30 days prior.

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.

Over the past 24 hours, 63.10 percent of the new cases were in individuals under the age of 40. Going into Sunday the group represented 54 percent of cases, a percentage that has increased over the past month.

According to DHS data, 1,459.6 out of every 100,000 Milwaukee County residents have tested positive for COVID-19 (up from 1,431.7) since the outbreak began. Brown County, which is anchored by Green Bay, has 1,242.6 cases per 100,000 residents (up from 1,230.6). Racine County has 1,197 cases per 100,000 residents (up from 1,190.4).

Kenosha (1,030.1), Walworth (731.9), Rock (643.5), Trempealeau (611.5), Dodge (586.7), Dane (565.3), Forest (532.3), La Crosse (497.2), Lafayette (484), Winnebago (453.7), Jefferson (425.3) and Waukesha (421.2) 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 630.8 (up from 617.5 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 969 ventilators and 315 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 388 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 7/12/2020 Percent of confirmed cases as of 7/12/2020
Ever hospitalized 3,824 10%
Never hospitalized 20,937 57%
Unknown 11,687 32%
Total 36,448 100%

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 7/12/2020 Negative as of 7/12/2020 Deaths as of 7/12/2020 Rate (positive cases per 100,000 people) as of 7/12/2020 Case fatality percentage (percent of cases who died) as of 7/12/2020
Adams 41 1,824 2 204.3 5%
Ashland 8 1,017 0 50.9 0%
Barron 46 4,154 1 101.7 2%
Bayfield 6 1,215 1 40.0 17%
Brown 3,228 34,812 44 1242.6 1%
Buffalo 14 1,160 2 106.3 14%
Burnett 5 1,039 1 32.8 20%
Calumet 154 4,099 2 309.2 1%
Chippewa 139 6,760 0 218.4 0%
Clark 101 2,584 7 292.8 7%
Columbia 120 6,892 1 210.7 1%
Crawford 45 2,706 0 276.3 0%
Dane 2,995 84,405 33 565.3 1%
Dodge 515 11,953 5 586.7 1%
Door 54 3,122 3 196.8 6%
Douglas 60 2,827 0 138.2 0%
Dunn 57 4,077 0 128.1 0%
Eau Claire 338 10,143 1 328.2 0%
Florence 4 464 0 92.2 0%
Fond du Lac 396 11,158 6 387.0 2%
Forest 48 653 3 532.3 6%
Grant 204 6,341 13 393.6 6%
Green 110 3,460 1 298.4 1%
Green Lake 43 1,895 0 229.2 0%
Iowa 45 2,957 0 190.5 0%
Iron 16 477 1 280.0 6%
Jackson 35 4,120 1 170.7 3%
Jefferson 360 8,077 4 425.3 1%
Juneau 51 4,265 1 193.0 2%
Kenosha 1,734 19,608 46 1030.1 3%
Kewaunee 77 1,809 1 378.2 1%
La Crosse 586 13,952 0 497.2 0%
Lafayette 81 1,583 0 484.0 0%
Langlade 11 1,561 1 57.4 9%
Lincoln 22 2,109 0 79.0 0%
Manitowoc 152 7,222 1 191.4 1%
Marathon 278 8,338 1 205.5 0%
Marinette 95 4,871 3 234.4 3%
Marquette 49 1,345 1 322.2 2%
Menominee 9 1,327 0 196.5 0%
Milwaukee 13,928 125,229 398 1459.6 3%
Monroe 134 5,406 1 294.5 1%
Oconto 85 4,147 0 226.3 0%
Oneida 28 2,916 0 79.2 0%
Outagamie 654 17,812 9 354.0 1%
Ozaukee 315 7,337 16 356.8 5%
Pepin 15 657 0 206.6 0%
Pierce 100 3,179 0 240.4 0%
Polk 69 4,242 2 159.2 3%
Portage 250 6,594 0 354.1 0%
Price 8 1,149 0 59.3 0%
Racine 2,339 30,723 65 1197.0 3%
Richland 17 1,812 4 96.9 24%
Rock 1,041 17,582 24 643.5 2%
Rusk 11 906 1 77.6 9%
Sauk 164 7,739 3 257.9 2%
Sawyer 15 1,981 0 91.6 0%
Shawano 95 4,628 0 231.7 0%
Sheboygan 287 10,426 4 249.1 1%
St. Croix 280 7,521 2 318.5 1%
Taylor 17 1,216 0 83.5 0%
Trempealeau 180 3,785 0 611.5 0%
Vernon 40 3,022 0 131.1 0%
Vilas 17 1,419 0 78.7 0%
Walworth 754 10,881 18 731.9 2%
Washburn 6 1,284 0 38.2 0%
Washington 490 9,781 19 364.2 4%
Waukesha 1,680 31,930 40 421.2 2%
Waupaca 175 5,450 13 340.2 7%
Waushara 44 3,955 0 182.5 0%
Winnebago 771 20,119 13 453.7 2%
Wood 107 6,143 1 146.0 1%
Total 36,448 653,352 820 630.8 2%

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