Rapid Increase of COVID-19 in Milwaukee
Transmission rate and positive testing rate shoot back up.
Cases of COVID-19 in Milwaukee County are rising rapidly.
The rolling seven-day average of new cases in Milwaukee County has been anywhere between 300 and 350 new cases every day over the past week.
New cases continue to climb and will soon eclipse the numbers seen during previous peaks in the summer and spring. The daily new case average is an important number to remember, said Darren Rausch, director of the greenfield health department, because “it’s higher than any other time during the pandemic.”
Last week, the county’s transmission rate was below 1.0, so for every new case of COVID-19, that person was passing it on to less than one other person. Thus, the disease was being suppressed, but only momentarily. The latest data shows the county’s transmission rate is back above 1.0. Especially in the City of Milwaukee, where the current transmission rate is higher than in the suburban communities.
This data comes from a weekly report put together by a team of epidemiologists at the Medical College of Wisconsin and faculty from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee that is tracking the disease locally.
That report shows that the city of Milwaukee has already surpassed the last peak, in early July, with its daily new-case numbers. And that the suburbs are experiencing the “highest rate of COVID over any point of the last seven months,” said Rausch, who has been working with the team and the county’s Unified Emergency Operations Center.
In the past week, the positivity rate for both the city and the county have shot up. The city’s rate is 10.0% and the county is 10.2% (both are still less than half’s rate). Testing has been going back up, after precipitously dropping from mid to late-summer. But much of the city continues to be under-tested, despite large swaths of the city continuing to be hotspots for COVID-19.
During a media briefing Thursday, Rausch once again noted that testing is available and encouraged people take advantage of it. “Testing is the true and best way to know your disease status,” he said.
The driver of disease in the city and in the county continues to be adults, particularly adults aged 24-39. Meanwhile, cases among children, 18 and under, have remained stable. This, Rausch said, shows that the current outbreak is not being driven by children or schools.
Read the weekly report here. And the children’s report here.
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More about the Coronavirus Pandemic
- Milwaukee County Announces New Policies Related to COVID-19 Pandemic - County Executive David Crowley - May 9th, 2023
- DHS Details End of Emergency COVID-19 Response - Wisconsin Department of Health Services - Apr 26th, 2023
- Milwaukee Health Department Announces Upcoming Changes to COVID-19 Services - City of Milwaukee Health Department - Mar 17th, 2023
- Fitzgerald Applauds Passage of COVID-19 Origin Act - U.S. Rep Scott Fitzgerald - Mar 10th, 2023
- DHS Expands Free COVID-19 Testing Program - Wisconsin Department of Health Services - Feb 10th, 2023
- MKE County: COVID-19 Hospitalizations Rising - Graham Kilmer - Jan 16th, 2023
- Not Enough Getting Bivalent Booster Shots, State Health Officials Warn - Gaby Vinick - Dec 26th, 2022
- Nearly All Wisconsinites Age 6 Months and Older Now Eligible for Updated COVID-19 Vaccine - Wisconsin Department of Health Services - Dec 15th, 2022
- City of Milwaukee Bi-Weekly COVID-19 Update - City of Milwaukee Health Department - Dec 9th, 2022
- MKE County: COVID-19 Disease Burden Remains Stable - Graham Kilmer - Nov 25th, 2022
Read more about Coronavirus Pandemic here
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