Milwaukee Reflects Nationwide COVID-19 Decline

Milwaukee County may be experiencing the beginning of a promising trend with COVID-19, based upon some major indicators of disease burden in the community.

Dr. Ben Weston, chief health policy advisor for Milwaukee County, told Urban Milwaukee that the county’s data shows the seven day average for new cases, positive tests and hospitalizations are all down this week compared to the week prior; there were zero deaths over the past seven days, as well.

“These trends are promising at the moment and mirror what we are seeing across much of the country with a decline in the BA.5 variant,” he said. “We can be happy with this trend, while also cautious that the start of school, cooler weather pushing people indoors, and undoubtedly a new variant on the horizon may shift the landscape.”

Darren Rausch, director of the Greenfield Health Department, works on a weekly report tracking COVID-19 in Milwaukee County with local epidemiologists, public health officials and faculty from the Medical College of Wisconsin and UW-Milwaukee.

In an email releasing the latest report, he noted ”countywide data shows a mixed bag for COVID-10 indicators.” As Weston pointed out, some of the major indicators are reflecting the nationwide decline, but others, as Rausch noted, are “fluctuating a bit up or a bit down.” But cases and other indicators have been going down in recent weeks.

Specifically, the number of new cases among children is up to 234 cases between Aug. 17-23, compared to 198 the week prior. The number of new cases among all county residents was down a hair from 1,060 to 1,057

As of Aug. 23, the positivity rate, which measures the percentage of tests that come back positive for COVID-19, was essentially the same as the week prior: 14.3% compared to 14.2%.

For the third week in a row the percentage of Milwaukee residents that are completely vaccinated has not changed, according to a countywide vaccination report as of Aug. 22. The percentage of residents eligible for a booster (12 years and older) that have received one went up slightly from 59.2% to 59.3%

Read the weekly report here. Read the kids report here. Read the vaccination report here.