COVID-19 Still Rising in Milwaukee
Two deaths in Milwaukee County over past two weeks.
COVID-19 has been steadily increasing in Milwaukee County since the beginning of July, and this trend continues.
When cases began to climb a few weeks ago, public health officials pointed to the new Omicron subvariant called BA.5, which has appeared to be more effective than other variants at bypassing immunity from a previous infection or vaccination.
A weekly report on COVID-19 in Milwaukee County, produced by epidemiologists, public health officials and faculty from the Medical College of Wisconsin and UW-Milwaukee, shows there were 1,524 cases between July 20-26, up from 1,422 the week prior.
Hospitalizations due to COVID-19 also continue to rise. There were 154 adult hospitalizations this past week, up from 149 the week prior. There were 17 children hospitalized, up from 13 the week prior.
After experiencing very few deaths due to COVID-19 in recent months, with many weeks seeing zero deaths reported, the county has seen two weeks in a row with 1 death reported.
The positivity rate, which measures the percentage of tests that come back positive for COVID-19 went up slightly to 16.9% this past week compared to 16.2% the week prior. This figure only represents positive PCR tests sent to a laboratory, not rapid antigen tests or home tests.
The rate of vaccination in Milwaukee has been at a crawl for months. Currently, 60.8% of all county residents are vaccinated, according to a countywide vaccination report.
There was a small increase in the number of people eligible for a booster shot that received one over the past week, going from 58.7% to 59%.
Read the weekly report here. Read the children’s report here. Read the vaccination report here.
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More about the Coronavirus Pandemic
- MHD Release: Milwaukee Health Department Launches COVID-19 Wastewater Testing Dashboard - City of Milwaukee Health Department - Jan 23rd, 2024
- Milwaukee County Announces New Policies Related to COVID-19 Pandemic - County Executive David Crowley - May 9th, 2023
- DHS Details End of Emergency COVID-19 Response - Wisconsin Department of Health Services - Apr 26th, 2023
- Milwaukee Health Department Announces Upcoming Changes to COVID-19 Services - City of Milwaukee Health Department - Mar 17th, 2023
- Fitzgerald Applauds Passage of COVID-19 Origin Act - U.S. Rep. Scott Fitzgerald - Mar 10th, 2023
- DHS Expands Free COVID-19 Testing Program - Wisconsin Department of Health Services - Feb 10th, 2023
- MKE County: COVID-19 Hospitalizations Rising - Graham Kilmer - Jan 16th, 2023
- Not Enough Getting Bivalent Booster Shots, State Health Officials Warn - Gaby Vinick - Dec 26th, 2022
- Nearly All Wisconsinites Age 6 Months and Older Now Eligible for Updated COVID-19 Vaccine - Wisconsin Department of Health Services - Dec 15th, 2022
- City of Milwaukee Bi-Weekly COVID-19 Update - City of Milwaukee Health Department - Dec 9th, 2022
Read more about Coronavirus Pandemic here
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