Jeramey Jannene
WI Daily

64 of 72 Wisconsin Counties Have “High” COVID-19 Levels

Case load less than half of what it was when things were "critically high."

By - Dec 23rd, 2020 06:12 pm
COVID-19. Credit: U.S. Army.

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

According to a weekly Wisconsin Department of Health Services report, 64 out of the state’s 72 counties have a “high” level of COVID-19 spread in the past two weeks.

That’s actually good news, as every county had previously been labeled “very high” or “critically high” as the state had to repeatedly invent new classifications in October and November as case levels set new highs.

The two-week caseload is now less than half of what it was on November 18th.

DHS reported 2,579 new COVID-19 cases Wednesday from 8,856 processed tests.

The seven-day case total stands at 18,796, well below November 18th’s record report of 45,946. The seven-day testing total stands at 62,146, 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 30.24%, below the record high of 38.12% set December 4th. The 14-day average is 30.66%. 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 1,243 people were actively hospitalized with a confirmed case of the disease, a decrease of 31 from the day prior and 167 from a week ago. Thirty days ago the total was 1,999.

DHS reported 164 people were newly hospitalized in the past 24 hours in its daily data release. A total of 20,519 people have required hospitalization since the outbreak began, 863 in the past week.

DHS reported 69 new deaths. A total of 4,614 Wisconsin residents have died as a result of the virus, including 950 in Milwaukee County.

The 30-day average daily death total now stands at a record average of 53.43. Thirty days ago the rolling average was 41.37.

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 15,769.1 cases per 100,000 residents (up from 15,746.2). Dodge County has recorded 11,349.1 cases per 100,000 residents (up from 11,305.4). 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, 8,681.7 out of every 100,000 Milwaukee County residents have tested positive for COVID-19 since the outbreak began (up from 8,631.8).

The statewide average of cases per 100,000 residents rose to 8,019.2 (up from 7,974.6). Wisconsin has recorded a per-capita rate of 718.4 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 1,270 6,644 118 10 2 6,196.6 48.8 0.8%
Ashland 964 5,871 39 14 0 6,077.0 88.3 1.5%
Barron 4,308 16,494 99 55 0 9,389.7 119.9 1.3%
Bayfield 890 5,695 24 17 0 5,853.7 111.8 1.9%
Brown 25,449 112,387 1,427 159 11 9,775.7 61.1 0.6%
Buffalo 946 4,287 19 6 0 7,002.7 44.4 0.6%
Burnett 968 5,248 104 16 0 6,266.6 103.6 1.7%
Calumet 4,552 17,367 322 34 1 8,843.0 66.1 0.7%
Chippewa 5,690 24,669 97 65 2 8,860.2 101.2 1.1%
Clark 2,689 9,090 276 47 4 7,740.1 135.3 1.7%
Columbia 4,055 23,691 287 27 4 7,098.1 47.3 0.7%
Crawford 1,525 6,623 45 11 0 9,211.7 66.4 0.7%
Dane 32,005 290,436 1,163 172 6 6,055.9 32.5 0.5%
Dodge 10,124 36,098 589 113 13 11,349.1 126.7 1.1%
Door 1,924 12,057 158 13 1 6,858.9 46.3 0.7%
Douglas 2,922 15,435 393 16 13 6,660.0 36.5 0.5%
Dunn 3,363 15,628 245 22 0 7,510.6 49.1 0.7%
Eau Claire 8,908 41,141 202 71 10 8,657.5 69.0 0.8%
Florence 391 1,424 23 12 0 8,844.2 271.4 3.1%
Fond du Lac 10,055 37,995 730 62 8 9,726.9 60.0 0.6%
Forest 816 3,568 59 22 2 8,887.0 239.6 2.7%
Grant 3,999 20,307 422 77 5 7,635.5 147.0 1.9%
Green 2,192 13,599 53 8 2 5,946.2 21.7 0.4%
Green Lake 1,364 6,639 333 10 3 7,145.9 52.4 0.7%
Iowa 1,616 9,515 72 5 1 6,790.2 21.0 0.3%
Iron 409 2,208 107 13 12 6,998.6 222.5 3.2%
Jackson 2,295 9,373 36 15 0 11,117.0 72.7 0.7%
Jefferson 6,341 31,076 596 55 3 7,488.6 65.0 0.9%
Juneau 2,356 13,211 19 10 0 8,755.8 37.2 0.4%
Kenosha 11,777 63,064 1,444 206 9 7,000.5 122.5 1.7%
Kewaunee 1,983 6,322 110 23 1 9,605.7 111.4 1.2%
La Crosse 9,683 44,424 480 53 0 8,182.8 44.8 0.5%
Lafayette 1,205 5,546 109 5 1 7,137.4 29.6 0.4%
Langlade 1,748 6,021 122 30 10 8,838.5 151.7 1.7%
Lincoln 2,346 9,004 134 41 14 8,248.4 144.2 1.7%
Manitowoc 5,850 25,374 835 50 5 7,289.4 62.3 0.9%
Marathon 11,487 43,333 1,062 153 20 8,525.2 113.6 1.3%
Marinette 3,455 15,372 315 39 0 8,439.6 95.3 1.1%
Marquette 1,131 5,181 150 18 3 7,354.7 117.1 1.6%
Menominee 691 3,641 3 10 0 15,769.1 228.2 1.4%
Milwaukee 81,997 403,149 6,525 950 16 8,681.7 100.6 1.2%
Monroe 3,298 16,040 49 23 0 7,169.9 50.0 0.7%
Oconto 3,645 14,351 311 37 4 9,601.7 97.5 1.0%
Oneida 2,729 13,573 76 47 3 7,598.9 130.9 1.7%
Outagamie 15,605 69,720 1,311 153 2 8,490.2 83.2 1.0%
Ozaukee 6,009 33,267 745 47 5 6,800.6 53.2 0.8%
Pepin 621 2,597 18 5 0 8,450.1 68.0 0.8%
Pierce 2,807 14,193 631 26 5 6,741.9 62.4 0.9%
Polk 2,890 16,168 34 22 0 6,583.1 50.1 0.8%
Portage 5,360 22,836 357 45 3 7,579.3 63.6 0.8%
Price 899 4,730 71 5 0 6,510.7 36.2 0.6%
Racine 16,759 91,788 1,923 241 10 8,585.4 123.5 1.4%
Richland 1,040 7,844 31 13 0 5,871.7 73.4 1.3%
Rock 11,580 63,183 758 108 8 7,225.5 67.4 0.9%
Rusk 1,069 4,218 35 11 0 7,355.2 75.7 1.0%
Sauk 4,294 31,490 196 27 4 6,850.0 43.1 0.6%
Sawyer 1,149 7,042 13 10 0 6,934.6 60.4 0.9%
Shawano 4,069 14,771 352 55 8 9,861.9 133.3 1.4%
Sheboygan 10,975 39,511 479 91 2 9,583.9 79.5 0.8%
St. Croix 5,315 29,711 944 27 0 6,028.2 30.6 0.5%
Taylor 1,540 4,993 184 14 5 7,483.0 68.0 0.9%
Trempealeau 2,871 10,401 78 27 2 9,787.9 92.0 0.9%
Vernon 1,440 11,164 42 22 0 4,754.5 72.6 1.5%
Vilas 1,537 7,348 60 21 2 7,097.3 97.0 1.4%
Walworth 7,361 35,834 1,695 85 7 7,173.4 82.8 1.2%
Washburn 981 5,348 66 11 2 6,188.1 69.4 1.1%
Washington 11,132 44,441 1,387 93 5 8,277.4 69.2 0.8%
Waukesha 32,837 143,668 2,736 317 19 8,237.2 79.5 1.0%
Waupaca 4,023 17,060 603 96 35 7,776.8 185.6 2.4%
Waushara 1,884 9,642 140 14 1 7,753.7 57.6 0.7%
Winnebago 14,725 68,826 1,832 148 16 8,695.3 87.4 1.0%
Wood 5,411 26,026 346 38 9 7,309.6 51.3 0.7%

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