COVID-19 Hospitalizations Up 122% In Last Month, 1,439 Actively Hospitalized
3,815 new cases from 9,818 tests, a record 38.86% positive case rate.
COVID-19. Credit: U.S. Army.
The Wisconsin Department of Health Services reported 3,815 newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 from 9,818 processed tests on Wednesday afternoon. The testing total was the lowest in two weeks.
The percentage of tests indicating a new case of the disease, the positive case rate, was a record 38.86%. The seven-day average stands at 26.37%, also a record.
Officials have looked for the positive case rate to trend downward to indicate a slowing spread of disease and sufficient testing. Multiple public health benchmarks call for the positive case figure to be sustained under five percent.
A total of 27,439 Wisconsin residents have tested positive for the disease in the past week.
Lagging indicators of the disease’s spread continue to set new highs, while state health officials warn that hospitalization and death surges are connected to earlier record case reports. One official called it a “nightmare scenario” during a Tuesday afternoon press briefing.
The state reported that 174 people were newly hospitalized in the past 24 hours. A total of 10,810 people have required hospitalization since the outbreak began.
The Wisconsin Hospital Association reported a record 1,439 people are actively hospitalized with a confirmed case of the disease. That’s up 54 in the past 24 hours and 249 since last week.
A record six patients are in the Alternate Care Facility in West Allis.
DHS reported 45 new deaths Wednesday. A total of 1,897 Wisconsin residents have died as a result of the virus, including 582 in Milwaukee County. Officials confirmed Tuesday that the total includes only people where a medical examiner determined the disease was a contributing factor in the death.
An average of 20.47 deaths per day have been reported over the past 30 days, the highest total on record. Thirty days ago the figure stood at 5.93.
Since September, Milwaukee County has gone from having the worst per-capita outbreak to the 15th worst in the state, even as its case and hospitalization load has surged to record levels.
Menominee County has recorded 6,937.5 cases per 100,000 residents (up from 6,800.5). Shawano County has recorded 5,916.1 cases per 100,000 residents (up from 5,831.3). Brown, Oconto, Calumet, Winnebago, Kewaunee, Forest, Outagamie, Florence, Langlade, Waupaca and Dodge counties are the remaining counties leading Milwaukee.
According to DHS data, 4,299.6 out of every 100,000 Milwaukee County residents have tested positive for COVID-19 since the outbreak began (up from 4,250.3).
The statewide average of cases per 100,000 residents rose to 3,634.7 (up from 3,568.7). Wisconsin has recorded a per-capita rate of 760.9 cases per 100,000 residents in the past two weeks according to the DHS activity level report released last Wednesday.
Charts and Maps
Data from DHS.
Data from DHS.
Confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths by gender
Data from DHS.
Confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths by race
Data from DHS.
Confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths by ethnicity
Data from DHS.
Cases and deaths by county
| Number of confirmed cases | Number of negatives* | Number of probable cases | Number of deaths † | Number of probable deaths ‡ | Cases per 100,000 people (counties) | Deaths per 100,000 people (counties) | Case fatality percentage †† | |
| Adams | 515 | 5,062 | 33 | 5 | 0 | 2,512.80 | 24.4 | 1.00% |
| Ashland | 279 | 4,090 | 12 | 3 | 0 | 1,758.80 | 18.9 | 1.10% |
| Barron | 1,132 | 12,115 | 31 | 7 | 0 | 2,467.30 | 15.3 | 0.60% |
| Bayfield | 230 | 3,948 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 1,512.80 | 13.2 | 0.90% |
| Brown | 15,377 | 92,905 | 333 | 97 | 3 | 5,906.80 | 37.3 | 0.60% |
| Buffalo | 273 | 3,165 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 2,020.90 | 22.2 | 1.10% |
| Burnett | 311 | 3,655 | 15 | 6 | 0 | 2,013.30 | 38.8 | 1.90% |
| Calumet | 2,694 | 13,420 | 63 | 11 | 0 | 5,233.50 | 21.4 | 0.40% |
| Chippewa | 1,685 | 18,660 | 34 | 13 | 2 | 2,623.80 | 20.2 | 0.80% |
| Clark | 889 | 6,928 | 69 | 16 | 3 | 2,558.90 | 46.1 | 1.80% |
| Columbia | 1,788 | 19,274 | 131 | 6 | 0 | 3,129.80 | 10.5 | 0.30% |
| Crawford | 340 | 5,126 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 2,053.80 | 6 | 0.30% |
| Dane | 14,929 | 237,721 | 563 | 49 | 1 | 2,824.80 | 9.3 | 0.30% |
| Dodge | 4,158 | 28,377 | 161 | 26 | 1 | 4,661.20 | 29.1 | 0.60% |
| Door | 822 | 9,153 | 59 | 6 | 0 | 2,930.40 | 21.4 | 0.70% |
| Douglas | 781 | 10,111 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1,780.10 | 2.3 | 0.10% |
| Dunn | 1,066 | 11,160 | 37 | 1 | 0 | 2,380.70 | 2.2 | 0.10% |
| Eau Claire | 3,531 | 29,610 | 37 | 12 | 0 | 3,431.70 | 11.7 | 0.30% |
| Florence | 209 | 1,139 | 13 | 6 | 0 | 4,727.40 | 135.7 | 2.90% |
| Fond du Lac | 4,564 | 29,168 | 151 | 20 | 0 | 4,415.10 | 19.3 | 0.40% |
| Forest | 475 | 2,498 | 13 | 11 | 0 | 5,173.20 | 119.8 | 2.30% |
| Grant | 1,881 | 16,629 | 72 | 32 | 0 | 3,591.50 | 61.1 | 1.70% |
| Green | 957 | 10,406 | 20 | 5 | 0 | 2,596.00 | 13.6 | 0.50% |
| Green Lake | 751 | 5,207 | 115 | 3 | 0 | 3,934.40 | 15.7 | 0.40% |
| Iowa | 480 | 7,077 | 26 | 1 | 0 | 2,016.90 | 4.2 | 0.20% |
| Iron | 191 | 1,760 | 30 | 4 | 0 | 3,268.30 | 68.4 | 2.10% |
| Jackson | 494 | 7,404 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 2,392.90 | 4.8 | 0.20% |
| Jefferson | 2,768 | 24,326 | 89 | 14 | 0 | 3,269.00 | 16.5 | 0.50% |
| Juneau | 784 | 10,742 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 2,913.60 | 14.9 | 0.50% |
| Kenosha | 5,118 | 48,143 | 528 | 80 | 2 | 3,042.20 | 47.6 | 1.60% |
| Kewaunee | 1,073 | 5,084 | 26 | 7 | 0 | 5,197.60 | 33.9 | 0.70% |
| La Crosse | 4,256 | 32,309 | 161 | 21 | 0 | 3,596.60 | 17.7 | 0.50% |
| Lafayette | 550 | 4,371 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 3,257.70 | 5.9 | 0.20% |
| Langlade | 983 | 4,749 | 35 | 9 | 1 | 4,970.40 | 45.5 | 0.90% |
| Lincoln | 802 | 6,816 | 37 | 10 | 2 | 2,819.80 | 35.2 | 1.20% |
| Manitowoc | 2,788 | 19,404 | 344 | 11 | 2 | 3,474.00 | 13.7 | 0.40% |
| Marathon | 4,728 | 31,099 | 358 | 54 | 3 | 3,509.00 | 40.1 | 1.10% |
| Marinette | 1,738 | 12,107 | 119 | 13 | 0 | 4,245.40 | 31.8 | 0.70% |
| Marquette | 616 | 4,121 | 56 | 2 | 0 | 4,005.70 | 13 | 0.30% |
| Menominee | 304 | 3,187 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6,937.50 | 0 | 0.00% |
| Milwaukee | 40,609 | 313,430 | 2,643 | 582 | 5 | 4,299.60 | 61.6 | 1.40% |
| Monroe | 1,132 | 12,499 | 20 | 5 | 0 | 2,461.00 | 10.9 | 0.40% |
| Oconto | 2,114 | 11,578 | 92 | 17 | 2 | 5,568.70 | 44.8 | 0.80% |
| Oneida | 1,239 | 11,350 | 19 | 14 | 0 | 3,450.00 | 39 | 1.10% |
| Outagamie | 9,251 | 54,536 | 375 | 75 | 0 | 5,033.20 | 40.8 | 0.80% |
| Ozaukee | 2,246 | 24,731 | 256 | 25 | 2 | 2,541.90 | 28.3 | 1.10% |
| Pepin | 146 | 1,855 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1,986.70 | 0 | 0.00% |
| Pierce | 703 | 9,783 | 229 | 7 | 0 | 1,688.50 | 16.8 | 1.00% |
| Polk | 563 | 11,413 | 15 | 3 | 0 | 1,282.50 | 6.8 | 0.50% |
| Portage | 2,776 | 17,480 | 80 | 21 | 1 | 3,925.40 | 29.7 | 0.80% |
| Price | 367 | 3,645 | 18 | 2 | 0 | 2,657.90 | 14.5 | 0.50% |
| Racine | 7,457 | 77,654 | 794 | 113 | 2 | 3,820.10 | 57.9 | 1.50% |
| Richland | 471 | 6,902 | 16 | 8 | 0 | 2,659.20 | 45.2 | 1.70% |
| Rock | 5,138 | 47,850 | 226 | 44 | 2 | 3,205.90 | 27.5 | 0.90% |
| Rusk | 211 | 3,012 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 1,451.80 | 6.9 | 0.50% |
| Sauk | 1,785 | 24,882 | 65 | 7 | 0 | 2,847.50 | 11.2 | 0.40% |
| Sawyer | 380 | 5,424 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 2,293.40 | 18.1 | 0.80% |
| Shawano | 2,441 | 11,868 | 20 | 24 | 1 | 5,916.10 | 58.2 | 1.00% |
| Sheboygan | 4,802 | 29,913 | 126 | 26 | 0 | 4,193.30 | 22.7 | 0.50% |
| St. Croix | 1,858 | 21,075 | 94 | 11 | 0 | 2,107.30 | 12.5 | 0.60% |
| Taylor | 488 | 3,726 | 28 | 7 | 0 | 2,371.20 | 34 | 1.40% |
| Trempealeau | 1,036 | 7,965 | 23 | 2 | 0 | 3,532.00 | 6.8 | 0.20% |
| Vernon | 499 | 8,501 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 1,647.60 | 6.6 | 0.40% |
| Vilas | 563 | 5,754 | 20 | 6 | 0 | 2,599.70 | 27.7 | 1.10% |
| Walworth | 3,411 | 28,452 | 287 | 38 | 1 | 3,324.10 | 37 | 1.10% |
| Washburn | 245 | 3,786 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 1,545.40 | 12.6 | 0.80% |
| Washington | 4,508 | 33,555 | 301 | 42 | 1 | 3,352.00 | 31.2 | 0.90% |
| Waukesha | 12,446 | 105,182 | 1,025 | 120 | 3 | 3,122.10 | 30.1 | 1.00% |
| Waupaca | 2,399 | 13,570 | 238 | 40 | 2 | 4,637.50 | 77.3 | 1.70% |
| Waushara | 1,025 | 8,080 | 8 | 5 | 0 | 4,218.50 | 20.6 | 0.50% |
| Winnebago | 8,799 | 54,735 | 453 | 62 | 2 | 5,195.90 | 36.6 | 0.70% |
| Wood | 1,708 | 18,749 | 108 | 9 | 2 | 2,307.30 | 12.2 | 0.50% |
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