Local COVID-19 Curve Flattening Among Adults
Meanwhile, cases continue to rise among children, particularly in the city.
After slowly rising for more than a month, daily new cases of COVID-19 are starting to level off and hold steady in Milwaukee County.
Darren Rausch, director of the Greenfield Health Department, works with a team of epidemiologists and faculty from the Medical College of Wisconsin and UW-Milwaukee on a weekly report tracking COVID-19 locally. He said the most recent data points to a “plateau” in disease for adults. Overall, the county is “seeing some favorable trends,” Rausch said.
However, disease is still rising among children in the city of Milwaukee, according to the data. In the suburbs, the disease is flattening off. Children 16 and young are still ineligible for the COVID-19 vaccine.
The increase has been most notable among children between the ages of 15 and 17. The disease has also increased more rapidly among Black children in the county than other racial or ethnic groups, reflecting disparities in the disease present since the start of the pandemic.
The transmission rate, which measures on average how many people will contract COVID-19 from a single confirmed cases, is below 1.0 countywide for the first time in weeks. This indicates community suppression of the disease.
The positivity rate, which measures what percentage of tests come back positive for COVID-19 is dropping. This past week it was 4.4%. The week before it was 5%.
The number of people getting tested has been rising in recent weeks, which is probably related to the increased transmission, Rausch noted.
There has been a sharp increase in the rate of hospitalization among Black residents in the county recently, according to the data in the weekly report. They now have the highest rate in the county, surpassing that of American Indian and Alaskan native residents, who currently have the highest rate of death.
Hispanic residents still have the highest rate of COVID-19 in the county, and white residents have the most cumulative cases.
Read the weekly report here. Read the children’s 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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