COVID-19 Cases Not Rising, Not Falling
The plateau in new disease continues, but key indicators show the community headed in the right direction.
The COVID-19 plateau is continuing in Milwaukee County.
After months of dropping case counts, last week the number of new cases of COVID-19 in Milwaukee County flattened off. Fortunately, disease is not rising, and key indicators show the trends are heading in a positive direction.
Rausch works with a team of epidemiologists and faculty from the Medical College of Wisconsin and UW-Milwaukee to produce a weekly report tracking COVID-19 locally.
Their latest report shows that the daily case rate continues to remain flat. Importantly, the transmission rate is trending down from a slight spike in recently weeks.
The current transmission rate is below 1.0, which means that for each new case of COVID-19 in the county, that person will transmit the disease, on average, to less than one other person. This rate is an important indicator that the disease is being suppressed by the community.
The report last week showed the latest data on transmission recorded a slight spike above 1.0. “Which was concerning,” Rausch said, “meaning that we could have a potential for a spike in cases.”
Another key indicator that continues to trend in a direction that is good for the community is the positivity rate, which measures what percentage of tests come back positive for COVID-19 in a given week. This past week, the positivity rate was 2.8%. The same as it was the week prior.
These are some of the lowest positivity rates the county has seen throughout the entire pandemic. However, testing is low and continues to decline week over week. Public health officials urge the public to seek out COVID-19 testing if they need it.
Deaths from COVID-19 have declined greatly. There were three deaths reported in the county during the past week.
It’s been a year since the first case of COVID-19 showed in the county, and, Rausch said, there wasn’t an area of the county that was spared.
In a year, the county saw 97,893 cases of COVID-19, 5,917 hospitalizations and 1259 deaths.
Read the weekly report here. Read the children’s report here.
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, all detailed here.
More about the Coronavirus Pandemic
- City of Milwaukee Weekly COVID-19 Update - City of Milwaukee Health Department - May 13th, 2022
- DHS Announces the Moving Forward Together Grant Program to Support Health Equity Efforts in COVID-19 Vaccinations - Wisconsin Department of Health Services - May 12th, 2022
- City of Milwaukee Weekly COVID-19 Update - City of Milwaukee Health Department - May 6th, 2022
- COVID-19 Antibody Study Seeks Volunteers of Color - Matt Martinez - May 5th, 2022
- Are COVID-19 Vaccines Still Free? Yes - Matt Martinez - May 4th, 2022
- Johnson Says COVID Vaccines May Cause AIDS - Henry Redman - May 4th, 2022
- Life-Saving COVID-19 Treatments Available Throughout Wisconsin - Wisconsin Department of Health Services - May 3rd, 2022
- City of Milwaukee Weekly COVID-19 Update - City of Milwaukee Health Department - Apr 29th, 2022
- State’s COVID-19 Cases Tripled in Last Month - Erik Gunn - Apr 26th, 2022
- City of Milwaukee Weekly COVID-19 Update - City of Milwaukee Health Department - Apr 22nd, 2022
Read more about Coronavirus Pandemic here