Brown County Has Worst COVID-19 Outbreak in Wisconsin
County last had worst outbreak on June 3rd.
COVID-19. Credit: U.S. Army.
What’s old is new again.
Brown County, anchored by county seat Green Bay, has seen a significant surge in COVID-19 cases and again finds itself with the worst outbreak in the state.
Measured on a per-capita basis over the length of the outbreak, Brown eclipses Milwaukee County. The northeast Wisconsin county has 2,842.6 cases per 100,000 residents compared to Milwaukee’s 2,821.9.
Brown County saw a surge early in the pandemic, connected to its meatpacking plants for which the Green Bay Packers are named, and spent months with the worst outbreak in the state. But it ceded the position to Racine County on June 3rd. By June 20th Milwaukee had overtaken both Brown and Racine.
Now as the state sees a record number of cases, Brown County is back in the pole position.
Wisconsin’s Department of Health Services reported 2,283 new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday afternoon, marking the third day in a row with over 2,000 cases when the state had never eclipsed 1,600 previously.
And while testing isn’t at an all-time high, cases are. The seven-day case total hit 11,959. The high before September brought a surge of cases with it was 6,512 for the week of July 26th.
The seven- and 14-day positive case rates now stand at 16.36 and 15.12 percent, both of which are all-time highs. The figure is a measure of the percentage of tests that indicate a new case of the disease. The 14-day figure hit a low of 2.69 percent on June 19th.
Officials have looked for the positive case rate to trend downward to indicate a slowing spread of disease and sufficient testing. Multiple public health benchmarks call for the positive case figure to be sustained under five percent. During an appearance before the Milwaukee Press Club, last Wednesday Governor Tony Evers called the five percent figure a “golden target” and encouraged more people to get tested.
A lagging indicator of the disease’s spread, hospitalizations, is again trending upward.
A total of 362 Wisconsin residents are actively hospitalized with a confirmed case of the disease according to the Wisconsin Hospital Association COVID-19 dashboard. The figure is up 20 from Thursday and up 43 from a week ago. DHS reports that 50 people were newly hospitalized in the past 24 hours, bringing the outbreak total to 6,619.
Three deaths were reported by DHS, bringing the statewide total to 1,241. There have been 521 deaths recorded in Milwaukee County. An average of 5.8 deaths per day have been reported across the state over the past 30 days.
Brown County has recorded 2,842.6 cases per 100,000 residents (up from 2,759.2). According to DHS data, 2,821.9 out of every 100,000 Milwaukee County residents have tested positive for COVID-19 (up from 2,795.4) since the outbreak began. Walworth County has a rate of 2,359.3 cases per 100,000 residents (up from 2,313.5).
Iron (2,327.2), Racine (2,263.8), Forest (2,263.8), La Crosse (2,091.6) and Kenosha (1,936) are the only other counties with more than 1,900 cases per 100,000 residents.
The statewide average of cases per 100,000 residents rose to 1,722.2 (up from 1,682.7). Wisconsin has recorded a per-capita rate of 269.6 per 100,000 in the past two weeks according to the DHS activity level report released Wednesday.
A total of 99,562 residents have tested positive for the disease.
Charts and Maps
Data from DHS.
Percent of COVID-19 cases by hospitalization status
| Hospitalization status | Number of confirmed cases as of 9/19/2020 | Percent of confirmed cases as of 9/19/2020 |
|---|---|---|
| Ever hospitalized | 6,619 | 7% |
| Never hospitalized | 57,214 | 57% |
| Unknown | 35,729 | 36% |
| Total | 99,562 | 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
| Number of confirmed cases | Number of negatives* | Number of probable cases | Number of deaths** | Cases per 100,000 people (counties) | Case fatality percentage*** | ||
| Adams | 9/19/2020 | 192 | 3,627 | 13 | 3 | 936.8 | 1.60% |
| Ashland | 9/19/2020 | 53 | 2,335 | 7 | 2 | 334.1 | 3.80% |
| Barron | 9/19/2020 | 411 | 8,357 | 21 | 4 | 895.8 | 1.00% |
| Bayfield | 9/19/2020 | 78 | 2,694 | 8 | 1 | 513 | 1.30% |
| Brown | 9/19/2020 | 7,400 | 65,496 | 171 | 59 | 2,842.60 | 0.80% |
| Buffalo | 9/19/2020 | 118 | 2,338 | 4 | 2 | 873.5 | 1.70% |
| Burnett | 9/19/2020 | 114 | 2,536 | 3 | 3 | 738 | 2.60% |
| Calumet | 9/19/2020 | 854 | 9,187 | 35 | 2 | 1,659.00 | 0.20% |
| Chippewa | 9/19/2020 | 466 | 13,490 | 24 | 0 | 725.6 | 0.00% |
| Clark | 9/19/2020 | 320 | 5,145 | 28 | 8 | 921.1 | 2.50% |
| Columbia | 9/19/2020 | 493 | 13,526 | 45 | 2 | 863 | 0.40% |
| Crawford | 9/19/2020 | 139 | 4,219 | 4 | 0 | 839.6 | 0.00% |
| Dane | 9/19/2020 | 8,635 | 184,706 | 451 | 41 | 1,633.90 | 0.50% |
| Dodge | 9/19/2020 | 1,573 | 21,376 | 23 | 9 | 1,763.40 | 0.60% |
| Door | 9/19/2020 | 234 | 6,344 | 15 | 3 | 834.2 | 1.30% |
| Douglas | 9/19/2020 | 376 | 7,139 | 7 | 0 | 857 | 0.00% |
| Dunn | 9/19/2020 | 351 | 7,678 | 22 | 0 | 783.9 | 0.00% |
| Eau Claire | 9/19/2020 | 1,527 | 21,008 | 20 | 6 | 1,484.10 | 0.40% |
| Florence | 9/19/2020 | 58 | 801 | 0 | 0 | 1,311.90 | 0.00% |
| Fond du Lac | 9/19/2020 | 1,706 | 21,784 | 45 | 13 | 1,650.30 | 0.80% |
| Forest | 9/19/2020 | 207 | 1,442 | 2 | 4 | 2,254.40 | 1.90% |
| Grant | 9/19/2020 | 782 | 12,257 | 38 | 19 | 1,493.10 | 2.40% |
| Green | 9/19/2020 | 429 | 7,442 | 20 | 2 | 1,163.70 | 0.50% |
| Green Lake | 9/19/2020 | 186 | 3,496 | 40 | 0 | 974.4 | 0.00% |
| Iowa | 9/19/2020 | 144 | 5,091 | 25 | 0 | 605.1 | 0.00% |
| Iron | 9/19/2020 | 136 | 1,434 | 7 | 1 | 2,327.20 | 0.70% |
| Jackson | 9/19/2020 | 107 | 6,212 | 3 | 1 | 518.3 | 0.90% |
| Jefferson | 9/19/2020 | 1,192 | 17,961 | 72 | 7 | 1,407.70 | 0.60% |
| Juneau | 9/19/2020 | 315 | 7,984 | 4 | 2 | 1,170.70 | 0.60% |
| Kenosha | 9/19/2020 | 3,257 | 36,019 | 380 | 65 | 1,936.00 | 2.00% |
| Kewaunee | 9/19/2020 | 366 | 3,447 | 6 | 2 | 1,772.90 | 0.50% |
| La Crosse | 9/19/2020 | 2,475 | 23,739 | 143 | 2 | 2,091.60 | 0.10% |
| Lafayette | 9/19/2020 | 211 | 3,227 | 5 | 0 | 1,249.80 | 0.00% |
| Langlade | 9/19/2020 | 122 | 3,111 | 1 | 2 | 616.9 | 1.60% |
| Lincoln | 9/19/2020 | 132 | 4,406 | 10 | 1 | 464.1 | 0.80% |
| Manitowoc | 9/19/2020 | 842 | 13,866 | 48 | 2 | 1,049.20 | 0.20% |
| Marathon | 9/19/2020 | 1,008 | 19,751 | 90 | 14 | 748.1 | 1.40% |
| Marinette | 9/19/2020 | 724 | 9,189 | 19 | 7 | 1,768.50 | 1.00% |
| Marquette | 9/19/2020 | 176 | 2,883 | 8 | 1 | 1,144.50 | 0.60% |
| Menominee | 9/19/2020 | 43 | 2,193 | 0 | 0 | 981.3 | 0.00% |
| Milwaukee | 9/19/2020 | 26,652 | 244,547 | 1,616 | 521 | 2,821.90 | 2.00% |
| Monroe | 9/19/2020 | 378 | 9,522 | 11 | 2 | 821.8 | 0.50% |
| Oconto | 9/19/2020 | 645 | 8,244 | 38 | 4 | 1,699.10 | 0.60% |
| Oneida | 9/19/2020 | 325 | 7,586 | 6 | 2 | 905 | 0.60% |
| Outagamie | 9/19/2020 | 3,414 | 37,826 | 218 | 27 | 1,857.50 | 0.80% |
| Ozaukee | 9/19/2020 | 1,186 | 17,236 | 93 | 19 | 1,342.20 | 1.60% |
| Pepin | 9/19/2020 | 55 | 1,337 | 2 | 0 | 748.4 | 0.00% |
| Pierce | 9/19/2020 | 379 | 7,019 | 174 | 6 | 910.3 | 1.60% |
| Polk | 9/19/2020 | 219 | 8,308 | 6 | 2 | 498.9 | 0.90% |
| Portage | 9/19/2020 | 1,127 | 12,121 | 43 | 4 | 1,593.60 | 0.40% |
| Price | 9/19/2020 | 50 | 2,401 | 2 | 0 | 362.1 | 0.00% |
| Racine | 9/19/2020 | 4,419 | 61,576 | 406 | 94 | 2,263.80 | 2.10% |
| Richland | 9/19/2020 | 86 | 4,142 | 11 | 4 | 485.5 | 4.70% |
| Rock | 9/19/2020 | 2,207 | 33,600 | 187 | 32 | 1,377.10 | 1.40% |
| Rusk | 9/19/2020 | 48 | 2,128 | 6 | 1 | 330.3 | 2.10% |
| Sauk | 9/19/2020 | 785 | 18,477 | 57 | 3 | 1,252.30 | 0.40% |
| Sawyer | 9/19/2020 | 195 | 4,319 | 0 | 1 | 1,176.90 | 0.50% |
| Shawano | 9/19/2020 | 513 | 8,703 | 5 | 1 | 1,243.30 | 0.20% |
| Sheboygan | 9/19/2020 | 1,434 | 21,373 | 52 | 14 | 1,252.20 | 1.00% |
| St. Croix | 9/19/2020 | 798 | 14,763 | 60 | 8 | 905.1 | 1.00% |
| Taylor | 9/19/2020 | 147 | 2,614 | 3 | 3 | 714.3 | 2.00% |
| Trempealeau | 9/19/2020 | 526 | 6,263 | 17 | 2 | 1,793.30 | 0.40% |
| Vernon | 9/19/2020 | 167 | 5,352 | 5 | 0 | 551.4 | 0.00% |
| Vilas | 9/19/2020 | 166 | 4,040 | 4 | 1 | 766.5 | 0.60% |
| Walworth | 9/19/2020 | 2,421 | 22,612 | 145 | 34 | 2,359.30 | 1.40% |
| Washburn | 9/19/2020 | 91 | 2,698 | 2 | 1 | 574 | 1.10% |
| Washington | 9/19/2020 | 2,212 | 23,247 | 70 | 32 | 1,644.80 | 1.40% |
| Waukesha | 9/19/2020 | 6,545 | 76,692 | 617 | 85 | 1,641.80 | 1.30% |
| Waupaca | 9/19/2020 | 894 | 10,045 | 105 | 20 | 1,728.20 | 2.20% |
| Waushara | 9/19/2020 | 265 | 6,433 | 7 | 2 | 1,090.60 | 0.80% |
| Winnebago | 9/19/2020 | 2,596 | 37,750 | 123 | 23 | 1,533.00 | 0.90% |
| Wood | 9/19/2020 | 665 | 13,537 | 37 | 3 | 898.3 | 0.50% |
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