Jeramey Jannene
WI Daily

COVID-19 Cases, Testing Falling, But Not Positivity Rate

Percentage of tests confirming a new case has held steady

By - Dec 20th, 2020 08:28 pm
COVID-19. Credit: U.S. Army.

COVID-19. Credit: U.S. Army.

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services reported 1,812 new COVID-19 cases Sunday from 7,693 processed tests.

The seven-day case total stands at 20,404, well below November 18th’s record report of 45,946. The seven-day testing total stands at 68,836, below November 18th’s record rolling total of 133,019 tests. The testing total is filtered to only include individuals who were tested for the first time or have been tested previously but are receiving their first positive diagnosis.

The seven-day positive case rate, the percentage of tests that confirm a new case of the disease and proxy for if the disease’s spread is growing or slowing, stands at 31.96%, below the record high of 38.12% set December 4th. The 14-day average is 31.58%. The 14-day average set a low of 2.69% on June 19th.

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 rate figure to be sustained under five percent.

The Wisconsin Hospital Association reported that 1,268 people were actively hospitalized with a confirmed case of the disease, a decrease of six from a day ago and 157 from a week ago. Thirty days ago the total was 2,104.

DHS reported 68 people were newly hospitalized in the past 24 hours in its daily data release. A total of 20,120 people have required hospitalization since the outbreak began, 871 in the past week.

DHS reported 18 new deaths. A total of 4,417 Wisconsin residents have died as a result of the virus, including 905 in Milwaukee County.

The 30-day average daily death total now stands at an average of 48.77, below a peak of 51.93 on December 9th. Thirty days ago the rolling average was 42.43.

Since September, Milwaukee County has gone from having the worst per-capita outbreak to the 20th worst in the state, even as its case and hospitalization load has surged to record levels. The county fell as low as 26th in early November.

Menominee County has recorded 15,632.1 cases per 100,000 residents (up from 15,609). Dodge County has recorded 11,229.2 cases per 100,000 residents (up from 11,209). Jackson, Shawano, Brown, Trempealeau, Fond du Lac, Oconto, Kewaunee, Sheboygan, Barron, Crawford, Calumet, Florence, Chippewa, Langlade, Forest, Winnebago and Juneau are the remaining counties leading Milwaukee.

According to DHS data, 8,573.8 out of every 100,000 Milwaukee County residents have tested positive for COVID-19 since the outbreak began (up from 8,537.3).

The statewide average of cases per 100,000 residents rose to 7,908.2 (up from 7,876.1). Wisconsin has recorded a per-capita rate of 860.2 cases per 100,000 residents in the past two weeks according to the DHS activity level report released Wednesday. That’s down from the record 1,519.4 reported November 18th.

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 1,243 6,565 116 10 2 6,064.9 48.8 0.8%
Ashland 943 5,847 36 14 0 5,944.7 88.3 1.5%
Barron 4,230 16,397 91 53 0 9,219.7 115.5 1.3%
Bayfield 879 5,673 23 16 0 5,781.4 105.2 1.8%
Brown 25,110 111,602 1,350 156 10 9,645.5 59.9 0.6%
Buffalo 937 4,252 18 6 0 6,936.1 44.4 0.6%
Burnett 957 5,215 100 16 0 6,195.4 103.6 1.7%
Calumet 4,520 17,206 303 31 1 8,780.8 60.2 0.7%
Chippewa 5,625 24,481 93 64 2 8,759.0 99.7 1.1%
Clark 2,646 9,009 267 46 4 7,616.4 132.4 1.7%
Columbia 4,021 23,608 279 25 3 7,038.6 43.8 0.6%
Crawford 1,508 6,579 44 11 0 9,109.0 66.4 0.7%
Dane 31,640 289,004 1,150 136 6 5,986.8 25.7 0.4%
Dodge 10,017 35,874 565 107 12 11,229.2 119.9 1.1%
Door 1,893 11,966 152 13 1 6,748.4 46.3 0.7%
Douglas 2,876 15,261 356 16 13 6,555.1 36.5 0.6%
Dunn 3,313 15,534 228 20 0 7,398.9 44.7 0.6%
Eau Claire 8,793 40,692 199 70 9 8,545.8 68.0 0.8%
Florence 388 1,410 22 12 0 8,776.3 271.4 3.1%
Fond du Lac 9,942 37,808 699 61 8 9,617.6 59.0 0.6%
Forest 800 3,547 57 21 2 8,712.7 228.7 2.6%
Grant 3,952 20,237 409 76 5 7,545.7 145.1 1.9%
Green 2,150 13,467 52 8 2 5,832.2 21.7 0.4%
Green Lake 1,348 6,581 321 10 3 7,062.0 52.4 0.7%
Iowa 1,577 9,430 67 5 1 6,626.3 21.0 0.3%
Iron 406 2,207 101 10 10 6,947.3 171.1 2.5%
Jackson 2,227 9,329 35 13 0 10,787.6 63.0 0.6%
Jefferson 6,267 30,901 587 51 3 7,401.2 60.2 0.8%
Juneau 2,314 13,200 16 8 0 8,599.7 29.7 0.3%
Kenosha 11,558 62,630 1,393 196 8 6,870.3 116.5 1.7%
Kewaunee 1,954 6,285 111 22 1 9,465.2 106.6 1.1%
La Crosse 9,540 43,913 436 52 0 8,062.0 43.9 0.5%
Lafayette 1,185 5,515 95 5 1 7,018.9 29.6 0.4%
Langlade 1,724 5,979 114 30 10 8,717.2 151.7 1.7%
Lincoln 2,301 8,961 133 38 14 8,090.1 133.6 1.7%
Manitowoc 5,776 25,187 820 50 5 7,197.1 62.3 0.9%
Marathon 11,332 42,925 1,036 143 20 8,410.2 106.1 1.3%
Marinette 3,424 15,286 309 39 0 8,363.9 95.3 1.1%
Marquette 1,124 5,143 149 17 3 7,309.1 110.5 1.5%
Menominee 685 3,649 3 10 0 15,632.1 228.2 1.5%
Milwaukee 80,978 400,261 6,383 905 16 8,573.8 95.8 1.1%
Monroe 3,238 15,925 48 21 0 7,039.4 45.7 0.6%
Oconto 3,606 14,290 298 37 4 9,499.0 97.5 1.0%
Oneida 2,695 13,588 75 47 3 7,504.2 130.9 1.7%
Outagamie 15,435 69,094 1,255 151 1 8,397.7 82.2 1.0%
Ozaukee 5,858 32,973 734 45 5 6,629.7 50.9 0.8%
Pepin 606 2,577 18 5 0 8,246.0 68.0 0.8%
Pierce 2,757 14,039 621 25 5 6,621.8 60.0 0.9%
Polk 2,841 16,032 34 22 0 6,471.5 50.1 0.8%
Portage 5,296 22,704 346 45 3 7,488.8 63.6 0.8%
Price 886 4,697 73 4 0 6,416.6 29.0 0.5%
Racine 16,493 91,593 1,839 236 10 8,449.2 120.9 1.4%
Richland 1,025 7,874 32 13 0 5,787.0 73.4 1.3%
Rock 11,450 62,855 690 105 7 7,144.4 65.5 0.9%
Rusk 1,054 4,196 35 11 0 7,252.0 75.7 1.0%
Sauk 4,214 31,302 193 26 3 6,722.4 41.5 0.6%
Sawyer 1,127 7,011 12 10 0 6,801.9 60.4 0.9%
Shawano 4,025 14,671 339 54 7 9,755.2 130.9 1.3%
Sheboygan 10,843 39,229 458 84 2 9,468.6 73.4 0.8%
St. Croix 5,220 29,437 884 24 0 5,920.4 27.2 0.5%
Taylor 1,522 4,950 176 13 5 7,395.5 63.2 0.9%
Trempealeau 2,838 10,325 76 26 2 9,675.4 88.6 0.9%
Vernon 1,413 11,074 42 22 0 4,665.4 72.6 1.6%
Vilas 1,507 7,279 56 21 2 6,958.8 97.0 1.4%
Walworth 7,249 35,688 1,622 81 7 7,064.3 78.9 1.1%
Washburn 949 5,299 75 10 1 5,986.2 63.1 1.1%
Washington 10,907 44,045 1,352 92 5 8,110.1 68.4 0.8%
Waukesha 32,265 142,128 2,635 305 19 8,093.7 76.5 0.9%
Waupaca 3,978 16,922 580 95 35 7,689.8 183.6 2.4%
Waushara 1,873 9,596 131 14 1 7,708.5 57.6 0.7%
Winnebago 14,610 68,409 1,763 146 15 8,627.4 86.2 1.0%
Wood 5,294 25,780 337 35 9 7,151.5 47.3 0.7%

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