COVID-19 Still Rising in Milwaukee

2019 Novel Coronavirus. Image by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

COVID-19 has been steadily increasing in Milwaukee County since the beginning of July, and this trend continues.

When cases began to climb a few weeks ago, public health officials pointed to the new Omicron subvariant called BA.5, which has appeared to be more effective than other variants at bypassing immunity from a previous infection or vaccination.

A weekly report on COVID-19 in Milwaukee County, produced by epidemiologists, public health officials and faculty from the Medical College of Wisconsin and UW-Milwaukee, shows there were 1,524 cases between July 20-26, up from 1,422 the week prior.

Hospitalizations due to COVID-19 also continue to rise. There were 154 adult hospitalizations this past week, up from 149 the week prior. There were 17 children hospitalized, up from 13 the week prior.

After experiencing very few deaths due to COVID-19 in recent months, with many weeks seeing zero deaths reported, the county has seen two weeks in a row with 1 death reported.

The positivity rate, which measures the percentage of tests that come back positive for COVID-19 went up slightly to 16.9% this past week compared to 16.2% the week prior. This figure only represents positive PCR tests sent to a laboratory, not rapid antigen tests or home tests.

The rate of vaccination in Milwaukee has been at a crawl for months. Currently, 60.8% of all county residents are vaccinated, according to a countywide vaccination report.

There was a small increase in the number of people eligible for a booster shot that received one over the past week, going from 58.7% to 59%.

Read the weekly report here. Read the children’s report here. Read the vaccination report here.