New COVID-19 Cases Down Slightly This Past Week

While the total number of weekly new COVID-19 cases has held relatively steady at an elevated level in Milwaukee County during recent weeks, the latest data does show a slight dip below the previous week’s total.

A weekly report produced by epidemiologists and faculty from the Medical College of Wisconsin and UW-Milwaukee and public health officials tracking COVID-19 in Milwaukee County shows there were 1,276 cases this past week, slightly down from 1,682 the week prior.

Darren Rausch, director of the Greenfield Health Department, told colleagues in an email releasing the latest report, that while this past week all indicators of disease showed a decrease, “Overall, recent data continues to support evidence of a plateau since mid-May and fairly consistently high daily cases in the weeks to follow.”

There were 131 people hospitalized due to COVID-19 this past week, down from 136 the week prior. Hospitalizations among children als0 went down from 14 to 10.

Once again, there were zero deaths due to COVID-19 reported during the past week.

The positivity rate, which measures the percentage of tests that come back positive for COVID-19 also went down to 13.4% this past week compared to 14.7% the week prior.

The most recent weekly COVID-19 reproduction number for the county, from June 1 – 7, showed a slight increase above the week prior. This number is a measure of how many people, on average, will contract COVID-19 from a single confirmed case. Numbers below 1.0 indicate community suppression. The county’s latest reproduction number was 0.995.

The rate of vaccination has not changed in recent months, as the number of new people getting vaccinated has slowed to a drip. This past week, the percentage of vaccine eligible residents (five years and older) that were completely vaccinated was 65.8%, having not moved from the week prior, according to a countywide vaccine report. The percentage of booster eligible residents (12 years and older) was 58.8%, also having not moved from the week prior.

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