Jeramey Jannene
WI Daily

COVID-19 Testing Totals Keep Falling

Tuesday's testing total is lower than even yesterday's 84-day low.

By - Dec 15th, 2020 07:16 pm
COVID-19. Credit: U.S. Army.

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

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services reported 3,501 new COVID-19 cases Tuesday from 7,299 processed tests.

The processed test total was the lowest reported in 85 days. But unlike yesterday’s prior low, the percentage of tests registering a new case of the disease nearly doubled.

The seven-day case total stands at 23,950, below November 18th’s record report of 45,946. The seven-day testing total stands at 75,792, below November 18th’s record rolling total of 133,019 tests. The testing total is filtered to only include individuals who were tested for the first time or have been tested previously but are receiving their first positive diagnosis.

The seven-day positive case rate, the percentage of tests that confirm a new case of the disease and proxy for if the disease’s spread is growing or slowing, stands at 31.60%, below the record high of 38.12% set December 4th. The 14-day average is 33.07%. The 14-day average set a low of 2.69% 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 rate figure to be sustained under five percent.

The Wisconsin Hospital Association reported that 1,461 people were actively hospitalized with a confirmed case of the disease, a decrease of 10 from a day ago and 95 from a week ago. Thirty days ago the total was 2,096.

DHS reported 184 people were newly hospitalized in the past 24 hours in its daily data release. A total of 19,510 people have required hospitalization since the outbreak began, 1,010 in the past week.

DHS reported 54 new deaths. A total of 4,122 Wisconsin residents have died as a result of the virus, including 819 in Milwaukee County.

The 30-day average daily death total now stands at an average of 49.5, below a peak of 51.93 on December 9th. Thirty days ago the rolling average was 35.43.

Since September, Milwaukee County has gone from having the worst per-capita outbreak to the 20th worst in the state, even as its case and hospitalization load has surged to record levels. The county fell as low as 26th in early November.

Menominee County has recorded 14,924.7 cases per 100,000 residents (up from 14,787.8). Dodge County has recorded 10,900.7 cases per 100,000 residents (up from 10,870.5). Jackson, Shawano, Brown, Trempealeau, Fond du Lac, Oconto, Crawford, Kewaunee, Sheboygan, Barron, Florence, forest, Calumet, Chippewa, Langlade, Winnebago, Eau Claire and Outagamie are the remaining counties leading Milwaukee.

According to DHS data, 8,286.8 out of every 100,000 Milwaukee County residents have tested positive for COVID-19 since the outbreak began (up from 8,210.3).

The statewide average of cases per 100,000 residents rose to 7,652.5 (up from 7,592). Wisconsin has recorded a per-capita rate of 910.3 cases per 100,000 residents in the past two weeks according to the DHS activity level report released Wednesday. That’s down from the record 1,519.4 reported November 18th.

Data from DHS website

Data from DHS website

Confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths by gender

Data from DHS website

Confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths by race

Data from DHS website

Confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths by ethnicity

Data from DHS website

Cases and deaths by county

Number of confirmed cases Number of negatives* Number of probable cases Number of deaths † Number of probable deaths ‡ Cases per 100,000 people (counties) Deaths per 100,000 people (counties) Case fatality percentage ††
Adams 1,206 6,460 108 10 2 5,884.4 48.8 0.8%
Ashland 893 5,725 33 13 0 5,629.5 82.0 1.5%
Barron 4,050 16,149 77 50 0 8,827.4 109.0 1.2%
Bayfield 843 5,623 22 16 0 5,544.6 105.2 1.9%
Brown 24,547 110,273 1,266 153 10 9,429.2 58.8 0.6%
Buffalo 911 4,198 16 6 0 6,743.7 44.4 0.7%
Burnett 920 5,141 93 15 0 5,955.8 97.1 1.6%
Calumet 4,416 16,960 287 30 1 8,578.8 58.3 0.7%
Chippewa 5,476 24,178 82 62 2 8,526.9 96.5 1.1%
Clark 2,524 8,872 240 44 4 7,265.2 126.7 1.7%
Columbia 3,892 23,326 261 20 1 6,812.8 35.0 0.5%
Crawford 1,471 6,498 43 11 0 8,885.5 66.4 0.7%
Dane 30,682 285,200 1,057 116 4 5,805.5 21.9 0.4%
Dodge 9,724 35,364 516 90 8 10,900.7 100.9 0.9%
Door 1,791 11,788 144 12 1 6,384.8 42.8 0.7%
Douglas 2,697 14,892 314 14 12 6,147.1 31.9 0.5%
Dunn 3,182 15,282 200 20 0 7,106.3 44.7 0.6%
Eau Claire 8,537 39,975 189 65 9 8,297.0 63.2 0.8%
Florence 380 1,402 24 12 0 8,595.3 271.4 3.2%
Fond du Lac 9,674 37,104 648 59 7 9,358.3 57.1 0.6%
Forest 783 3,500 54 20 2 8,527.6 217.8 2.6%
Grant 3,864 19,983 402 73 4 7,377.7 139.4 1.9%
Green 2,023 13,174 48 7 2 5,487.7 19.0 0.3%
Green Lake 1,300 6,458 308 9 2 6,810.6 47.2 0.7%
Iowa 1,503 9,268 60 5 1 6,315.4 21.0 0.3%
Iron 400 2,186 83 10 6 6,844.6 171.1 2.5%
Jackson 2,082 9,195 34 6 0 10,085.3 29.1 0.3%
Jefferson 6,079 30,483 543 47 3 7,179.2 55.5 0.8%
Juneau 2,209 13,003 14 8 0 8,209.5 29.7 0.4%
Kenosha 11,148 61,933 1,289 183 6 6,626.6 108.8 1.6%
Kewaunee 1,865 6,171 107 22 1 9,034.1 106.6 1.2%
La Crosse 9,220 43,227 396 46 0 7,791.6 38.9 0.5%
Lafayette 1,157 5,436 92 4 1 6,853.0 23.7 0.3%
Langlade 1,687 5,889 108 29 10 8,530.1 146.6 1.7%
Lincoln 2,215 8,834 126 36 14 7,787.8 126.6 1.6%
Manitowoc 5,572 24,659 791 47 4 6,943.0 58.6 0.8%
Marathon 11,023 42,196 990 142 20 8,180.9 105.4 1.3%
Marinette 3,334 15,037 293 38 0 8,144.0 92.8 1.1%
Marquette 1,104 5,062 144 15 2 7,179.1 97.5 1.4%
Menominee 654 3,635 3 9 0 14,924.7 205.4 1.4%
Milwaukee 78,267 394,124 5,929 819 14 8,286.8 86.7 1.0%
Monroe 3,084 15,709 43 20 0 6,704.6 43.5 0.6%
Oconto 3,523 14,092 268 35 4 9,280.3 92.2 1.0%
Oneida 2,624 13,461 73 46 3 7,306.5 128.1 1.8%
Outagamie 15,070 67,969 1,152 143 1 8,199.1 77.8 0.9%
Ozaukee 5,673 32,563 699 44 5 6,420.3 49.8 0.8%
Pepin 579 2,532 17 4 0 7,878.6 54.4 0.7%
Pierce 2,641 13,803 565 23 5 6,343.2 55.2 0.9%
Polk 2,713 15,732 26 21 0 6,180.0 47.8 0.8%
Portage 5,155 22,317 314 43 3 7,289.4 60.8 0.8%
Price 861 4,609 62 4 0 6,235.5 29.0 0.5%
Racine 16,021 91,095 1,681 225 6 8,207.4 115.3 1.4%
Richland 981 7,807 32 13 0 5,538.6 73.4 1.3%
Rock 10,959 61,783 627 104 3 6,838.0 64.9 0.9%
Rusk 1,022 4,112 34 11 0 7,031.8 75.7 1.1%
Sauk 4,051 30,824 162 22 3 6,462.4 35.1 0.5%
Sawyer 1,070 6,882 12 8 0 6,457.8 48.3 0.7%
Shawano 3,928 14,458 307 53 6 9,520.1 128.5 1.3%
Sheboygan 10,406 38,502 403 82 2 9,087.0 71.6 0.8%
St. Croix 4,978 28,916 729 22 0 5,646.0 25.0 0.4%
Taylor 1,475 4,824 168 13 5 7,167.2 63.2 0.9%
Trempealeau 2,746 10,186 73 24 1 9,361.8 81.8 0.9%
Vernon 1,345 10,928 38 19 0 4,440.8 62.7 1.4%
Vilas 1,446 7,143 44 19 2 6,677.1 87.7 1.3%
Walworth 6,985 35,212 1,516 71 4 6,807.0 69.2 1.0%
Washburn 907 5,208 63 8 1 5,721.3 50.5 0.9%
Washington 10,497 43,332 1,280 87 5 7,805.3 64.7 0.8%
Waukesha 31,200 139,202 2,476 289 19 7,826.6 72.5 0.9%
Waupaca 3,915 16,705 567 93 33 7,568.0 179.8 2.4%
Waushara 1,839 9,478 121 13 1 7,568.5 53.5 0.7%
Winnebago 14,328 67,364 1,651 138 12 8,460.9 81.5 1.0%
Wood 5,069 25,181 307 32 9 6,847.6 43.2 0.6%

If you think stories like this are important, become a member of Urban Milwaukee and help support real, independent journalism. Plus you get some cool added benefits.

Categories: Health

Leave a Reply

You must be an Urban Milwaukee member to leave a comment. Membership, which includes a host of perks, including an ad-free website, tickets to marquee events like Summerfest, the Wisconsin State Fair and the Florentine Opera, a better photo browser and access to members-only, behind-the-scenes tours, starts at $9/month. Learn more.

Join now and cancel anytime.

If you are an existing member, sign-in to leave a comment.

Have questions? Need to report an error? Contact Us