Jeramey Jannene
WI Daily

Over 100,000 Wisconsin Residents Have Contracted COVID-19

Threshold crossed as state sees record surge in cases.

By - Sep 20th, 2020 03:32 pm
COVID-19. Credit: U.S. Army.

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

Wisconsin eclipsed the 100,000 case threshold for COVID-19 in the past 24 hours.

That’s according to data released Sunday afternoon by the Department of Health Services. But the total does not reflect individuals with a positive case that was never confirmed by testing, an issue that was particularly pronounced earlier in the outbreak was testing was limited.

DHS reported that 1,665 people tested positive in the past 24 hours, the lowest total reported in four days. But prior to the four-day stretch the total would have been a one-day record.

The new cases come from 8,320 processed tests. The number of tests processed in the past seven days has climbed to 73,686, the highest total since August 14th. A high of 99,920 was recorded for the week ending August 6th.

And while testing isn’t at an all-time high, cases are. The seven-day case total hit 12,042. 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 16.34 and 15.38 percent, the latter of which is an all-time high. 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 407 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 45 from Saturday and 94 from a week ago. DHS reports that 34 people were newly hospitalized in the past 24 hours, bringing the outbreak total to 6,619.

One death was reported by DHS, bringing the statewide total to 1,242. 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 2,874.8 cases per 100,000 residents (up from 2,842.6). According to DHS data, 2,843.9 out of every 100,000 Milwaukee County residents have tested positive for COVID-19 (up from 2,821.9) since the outbreak began. Walworth County has a rate of 2,366.1 cases per 100,000 residents (up from 2,359.3).

Iron (2,327.2), Forest (2,319.8), Racine (2,266.9), La Crosse (2,170.1), Kenosha (1,950.3) and Outgamie (1,918.4) 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 1,751 (up from 1,722.2). 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 101,227 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 9/20/2020 Percent of confirmed cases as of 9/20/2020
Ever hospitalized 6,653 7%
Never hospitalized 57,884 57%
Unknown 36,690 36%
Total 101,227 100%

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 9/20/2020 200 3,666 14 3 975.8 1.50%
Ashland 9/20/2020 61 2,356 7 2 384.5 3.30%
Barron 9/20/2020 420 8,356 21 4 915.4 1.00%
Bayfield 9/20/2020 82 2,704 8 1 539.3 1.20%
Brown 9/20/2020 7,484 65,674 171 59 2,874.80 0.80%
Buffalo 9/20/2020 119 2,366 4 2 880.9 1.70%
Burnett 9/20/2020 122 2,536 4 3 789.8 2.50%
Calumet 9/20/2020 869 9,271 35 2 1,688.20 0.20%
Chippewa 9/20/2020 476 13,728 24 0 741.2 0.00%
Clark 9/20/2020 325 5,195 27 8 935.5 2.50%
Columbia 9/20/2020 506 13,818 45 2 885.7 0.40%
Crawford 9/20/2020 138 4,238 4 0 833.6 0.00%
Dane 9/20/2020 8,815 186,173 453 41 1,667.90 0.50%
Dodge 9/20/2020 1,600 21,614 23 9 1,793.60 0.60%
Door 9/20/2020 236 6,346 15 3 841.3 1.30%
Douglas 9/20/2020 378 7,139 7 0 861.6 0.00%
Dunn 9/20/2020 377 7,821 21 0 842 0.00%
Eau Claire 9/20/2020 1,586 21,014 20 6 1,541.40 0.40%
Florence 9/20/2020 63 808 0 0 1,425.00 0.00%
Fond du Lac 9/20/2020 1,713 21,912 45 13 1,657.10 0.80%
Forest 9/20/2020 213 1,487 2 4 2,319.80 1.90%
Grant 9/20/2020 821 12,550 40 19 1,567.60 2.30%
Green 9/20/2020 436 7,519 20 2 1,182.70 0.50%
Green Lake 9/20/2020 195 3,520 42 0 1,021.60 0.00%
Iowa 9/20/2020 150 5,113 24 0 630.3 0.00%
Iron 9/20/2020 136 1,434 7 1 2,327.20 0.70%
Jackson 9/20/2020 107 6,238 3 1 518.3 0.90%
Jefferson 9/20/2020 1,214 18,054 72 7 1,433.70 0.60%
Juneau 9/20/2020 326 8,036 4 2 1,211.50 0.60%
Kenosha 9/20/2020 3,281 36,256 382 65 1,950.30 2.00%
Kewaunee 9/20/2020 381 3,445 6 2 1,845.60 0.50%
La Crosse 9/20/2020 2,568 23,777 138 2 2,170.10 0.10%
Lafayette 9/20/2020 217 3,262 5 0 1,285.30 0.00%
Langlade 9/20/2020 131 3,167 1 2 662.4 1.50%
Lincoln 9/20/2020 136 4,406 10 1 478.2 0.70%
Manitowoc 9/20/2020 861 13,870 51 2 1,072.80 0.20%
Marathon 9/20/2020 1,054 19,754 93 14 782.2 1.30%
Marinette 9/20/2020 732 9,298 19 7 1,788.10 1.00%
Marquette 9/20/2020 190 2,916 8 1 1,235.50 0.50%
Menominee 9/20/2020 47 2,236 0 0 1,072.60 0.00%
Milwaukee 9/20/2020 26,860 244,971 1,630 521 2,843.90 1.90%
Monroe 9/20/2020 392 9,550 12 2 852.2 0.50%
Oconto 9/20/2020 662 8,247 37 4 1,743.80 0.60%
Oneida 9/20/2020 334 7,671 6 2 930 0.60%
Outagamie 9/20/2020 3,526 37,999 219 27 1,918.40 0.80%
Ozaukee 9/20/2020 1,217 17,233 94 19 1,377.30 1.60%
Pepin 9/20/2020 55 1,361 2 0 748.4 0.00%
Pierce 9/20/2020 388 7,107 213 6 931.9 1.50%
Polk 9/20/2020 218 8,336 6 2 496.6 0.90%
Portage 9/20/2020 1,169 12,126 43 4 1,653.00 0.30%
Price 9/20/2020 52 2,401 2 0 376.6 0.00%
Racine 9/20/2020 4,425 61,733 407 94 2,266.90 2.10%
Richland 9/20/2020 92 4,191 11 4 519.4 4.30%
Rock 9/20/2020 2,231 34,138 187 32 1,392.10 1.40%
Rusk 9/20/2020 49 2,127 6 1 337.1 2.00%
Sauk 9/20/2020 805 18,509 57 3 1,284.20 0.40%
Sawyer 9/20/2020 195 4,350 0 1 1,176.90 0.50%
Shawano 9/20/2020 574 8,706 5 1 1,391.20 0.20%
Sheboygan 9/20/2020 1,443 21,559 52 14 1,260.10 1.00%
St. Croix 9/20/2020 810 14,867 60 8 918.7 1.00%
Taylor 9/20/2020 151 2,634 3 3 733.7 2.00%
Trempealeau 9/20/2020 531 6,307 17 2 1,810.30 0.40%
Vernon 9/20/2020 172 5,402 5 0 567.9 0.00%
Vilas 9/20/2020 168 4,130 4 1 775.8 0.60%
Walworth 9/20/2020 2,428 22,612 145 34 2,366.10 1.40%
Washburn 9/20/2020 91 2,721 2 1 574 1.10%
Washington 9/20/2020 2,268 23,252 70 32 1,686.40 1.40%
Waukesha 9/20/2020 6,605 76,718 618 85 1,656.90 1.30%
Waupaca 9/20/2020 908 10,048 104 20 1,755.20 2.20%
Waushara 9/20/2020 270 6,464 7 2 1,111.20 0.70%
Winnebago 9/20/2020 2,693 37,929 127 23 1,590.30 0.90%
Wood 9/20/2020 679 13,630 39 4 917.2 0.60%

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