COVID-19 Disease Remains At High Level

The COVID-19 surge that began in late July continues, and the level of disease is holding steady at a high level.

COVID-19 appeared to be slowly trending down for much of the month of September, based on the seven day average of daily new cases. But the latest data shows the county saw a slight increase, with 1,619 new cases, compared to the previous week’s 1,388 cases. There were 490 cases among children, compared to 440 the week prior.

The weekly report is produced by epidemiologists and faculty from the Medical College of Wisconsin and UW-Milwaukee. 

Darren Rausch, director of the Greenfield Health Department, works on the weekly report, and said the latest data would suggest a plateau in cases, adding that it’s too early to know if the decreases in the seven day case rate witnessed in September will continue.

The second order effects of the COVID-19 surges continue. These are increases in hospitalizations and deaths that lag behind rising case rates due to the time it takes for the virus to cause severe illness. There were 310 hospitalized adults, and 49 hospitalized children during that week at the end September and the beginning of October; and there were six deaths.

The transmission rate, which measures how many people on average will catch COVID-19 from a single case, was .93 for the county. Meaning that each identified case will, on average, transmit the disease to fewer than one other person. This is an indication of community suppression.

The positivity rate, which measures how many tests come back positive for COVID-19, showed a positivity rate of 8.6%, up from the week prior when it was 7.6%.

Only 62.4% of eligible county residents are completely vaccinated. While the number of vaccinated residents is steadily increasing, it is occurring at a very slow pace. Public health officials have attributed the latest surge in disease to a combination of the highly transmissible Delta variant and the large portion of the population that remains unvaccinated.

Racial disparities in COVID-19 outcomes have been present throughout the entire pandemic. Black residents in Milwaukee have suffered from a disproportionately high rate of hospitalization, relative to their share of the population in Milwaukee County, and have the second highest rate of death behind American Indians and Alaskan Natives in the county. Hispanic residents have the highest rate of disease.

Read the weekly report here. Read the children’s report here. Read the vaccine report here.