Jeramey Jannene
WI Daily

Hospitalizations, Case Rate Keep Rising

But deaths are slowing. Will they jump or has death rate slowed?

By - Jul 20th, 2020 05:46 pm
COVID-19. Credit: U.S. Army.

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

Based on the data, Wisconsin’s COVID-19 spread keeps accelerating.

The Department of Health Services reported 703 new cases of COVID-19 Monday afternoon from 6,992 processed tests. The result is a 24-hour positive case rate of 10.05 percent.

Testing is now at the highest level its been since the outbreak began. The 14-day average of tests processed stands at 11,373.93. But the percentage of tests returning a positive result, the positive case rate, continues to grow.

Conventional wisdom would hold that running more tests should find more cases, but the percentage of positive cases should go down and the additional cases should be mild or asymptomatic where the individual might not be aware they are carrying the disease. That’s not what is currently happening in Wisconsin.

The seven-day and 14-day positive case rate averages are 7.25 and 6.88 percent. The latter figure has climbed from an outbreak low of 2.69 percent on June 19th.

Active hospitalizations are up to 367, the highest total in 49 days. A high of 446 people actively hospitalized with a confirmed case of the disease was recorded on April 9th.

A total of 4,129 people have now been hospitalized as a result of the disease, with 22 newly hospitalized in the past 24 hours.

A total of 43,108 people have tested positive for the disease since the outbreak began with 18,479 in the past 30 days and 6,076 in the past week.  DHS 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 percent fell from a high of 79 as a surge in new cases has been reported.

There is one silver lining, at least for the time being. The death rate from the disease has been slowing in recent weeks. A total of 846 Wisconsin residents have died from the disease, with two in the past 24 hours. The state has averaged 3.4 deaths per day over the past 30 days, less than half of the average of 7.48 reported since April 1st.

The gap between the disease’s spread in Milwaukee County and the rest of the state continues to grow.

According to DHS data, 1,705.6 out of every 100,000 Milwaukee County residents have tested positive for COVID-19 (up from 1,675.2) since the outbreak began. Brown County, which is anchored by Green Bay, has 1,351.1 cases per 100,000 residents (up from 1,350). Racine County has 1,342.9 cases per 100,000 residents (up from 1,325).

Kenosha (1,204.2), Walworth (914.4), Trempealeau (774.5), Rock (723.9), Dane (669.8), Dodge (64.4), La Crosse (571.9), Waukesha (556.8) and Forest (554.4) are the only other counties with more than 550 cases per 100,000 residents.

The statewide average of cases per 100,000 residents rose to 744.5 (up from 732.3 yesterday).

There are currently 980 ventilators and 400 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 947 ventilators and 386 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 7/20/2020 Percent of confirmed cases as of 7/20/2020
Ever hospitalized 4,129 10%
Never hospitalized 24,344 57%
Unknown 14,545 34%
Total 43,018 100%

Percent of COVID-19 cases resulting in hospitalization within 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 7/20/2020 Negative as of 7/20/2020 Deaths as of 7/20/2020 Rate (positive cases per 100,000 people) as of 7/20/2020 Case fatality percentage (percent of cases who died) as of 7/20/2020
Adams 52 2,021 2 259.1 4%
Ashland 10 1,263 0 63.6 0%
Barron 74 4,343 1 163.5 1%
Bayfield 13 1,524 1 86.7 8%
Brown 3,510 38,039 46 1351.1 1%
Buffalo 25 1,317 2 189.9 8%
Burnett 5 1,174 1 32.8 20%
Calumet 188 4,597 2 377.5 1%
Chippewa 161 8,629 0 253.0 0%
Clark 141 3,006 7 408.8 5%
Columbia 159 7,884 1 279.2 1%
Crawford 48 2,907 0 294.7 0%
Dane 3,549 94,890 33 669.8 1%
Dodge 570 13,456 6 649.4 1%
Door 74 3,554 3 269.7 4%
Douglas 75 3,647 0 172.8 0%
Dunn 68 4,541 0 152.8 0%
Eau Claire 402 11,570 2 390.3 0%
Florence 5 510 0 115.3 0%
Fond du Lac 441 12,287 6 431.0 1%
Forest 50 720 3 554.4 6%
Grant 250 7,511 14 482.4 6%
Green 117 3,880 1 317.4 1%
Green Lake 47 2,076 0 250.6 0%
Iowa 50 3,307 0 211.7 0%
Iron 28 600 1 489.9 4%
Jackson 37 4,458 1 180.4 3%
Jefferson 427 9,697 4 504.4 1%
Juneau 76 4,643 1 287.7 1%
Kenosha 2,027 22,017 47 1204.2 2%
Kewaunee 92 1,982 1 451.9 1%
La Crosse 674 14,553 1 571.9 0%
Lafayette 86 1,743 0 513.9 0%
Langlade 11 1,703 1 57.4 9%
Lincoln 37 2,584 0 132.9 0%
Manitowoc 202 8,086 1 254.4 0%
Marathon 383 9,586 3 283.1 1%
Marinette 177 5,581 3 436.6 2%
Marquette 58 1,537 1 381.4 2%
Menominee 10 1,448 0 218.4 0%
Milwaukee 16,275 142,918 411 1705.6 3%
Monroe 165 5,991 1 362.6 1%
Oconto 121 4,547 0 322.2 0%
Oneida 52 3,530 0 147.1 0%
Outagamie 814 20,080 10 440.6 1%
Ozaukee 385 8,204 16 436.1 4%
Pepin 22 780 0 302.9 0%
Pierce 128 3,616 0 307.7 0%
Polk 81 4,648 2 186.9 2%
Portage 292 7,235 0 413.6 0%
Price 13 1,286 0 96.4 0%
Racine 2,624 34,091 66 1342.9 3%
Richland 18 2,086 4 102.6 22%
Rock 1,171 19,647 24 723.9 2%
Rusk 13 1,016 1 91.7 8%
Sauk 230 9,598 3 361.7 1%
Sawyer 19 2,130 0 116.1 0%
Shawano 113 5,124 0 275.5 0%
Sheboygan 398 12,202 4 345.5 1%
St. Croix 333 8,563 2 378.8 1%
Taylor 33 1,400 0 162.1 0%
Trempealeau 228 4,200 1 774.5 0%
Vernon 45 3,245 0 147.5 0%
Vilas 21 1,667 0 97.3 0%
Walworth 942 12,184 18 914.4 2%
Washburn 7 1,466 0 44.6 0%
Washington 570 10,821 19 423.7 3%
Waukesha 2,221 36,229 40 556.8 2%
Waupaca 224 5,977 13 435.4 6%
Waushara 52 4,434 0 215.6 0%
Winnebago 864 22,325 14 508.5 2%
Wood 135 7,080 1 184.2 1%
Total 43,018 737,191 846 744.5 2%

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