County Sees Minor Uptick In New COVID-19 Cases

In general, COVID-19 remains at low levels in Milwaukee County, but during the past week there was a slight uptick in new cases.

A weekly COVID-19 data report produced by epidemiologists and faculty from the Medical College of Wisconsin and UW-Milwaukee and public health officials covers the seven day period from March 23 to 29. It shows there were more new cases compared to the week prior.

There were 267 new cases reported among all county residents this past week, and 187 the week prior. Isolating the number of new cases among children shows there were 63 new cases compared to 36 the week before.

There was also a slight increase in the county’s positivity rate, which measures what percentage of tests come back positive for COVID-19. The positivity rate was 2.7% this past week. It’s up from 2.0% the week prior.

Hospitalizations and deaths, which are lagging indicators of disease because of how long it takes for someone to become seriously ill with COVID-19, continue to decrease.

There were 46 adults hospitalized with COVID-19 this past week, and 57 the week prior; 5 children were hospitalized, down from 7 the week before. There were zero deaths this past week.

The latest data on the county’s reproduction number, from March 16 to 22, shows the county was continuing to suppress the disease. The reproductive number was 0.88. Any number below 1.0 means that fewer than one additional cases will result from each confirmed case of COVID-19.

The percentage of county residents eligible for the vaccine (5 years and older) that are fully vaccinated is at 64.9%, according to a countywide vaccination report, the week prior it was 64.7%. The percentage of booster-eligible residents (age 12 years and older) that have received one went up one-tenth of a percentage point from 58.2% to 58.3%.

Read the weekly report here. Read the kids report here. Read the vaccine report here.