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Thursday COVID-19 numbers: positive test rate above 4.0% for second day in a row

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The percentage of positive COVID-19 cases in Wisconsin remained above four percent Thursday.

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services reported that 464–or 4.1 percent — of 11,222 new test results were positive.

That follows a 4.3 percent positive rate on Wednesday, and over the past seven days, an average of 3.6 percent of tests have been positive.

DHS also reported nine deaths, and 27 new hospitalizations.

The state’s public health agency now has a county-level dashboard to assess COVID-19 activity in counties and Healthcare Emergency Readiness Coalition regions, that measures what DHS calls the burden in each county.

There have now been 766 deaths and 3,326 hospitalizations due to COVID-19 in Wisconsin. Out of more than 26,000 cases, 78% have recovered.

Monday COVID-19 numbers for Wisconsin

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Three more deaths due to COVID-19 were reported Monday by the state Department of Health Services. That brings the total number of Wisconsin lives lost to the global pandemic to 697.

The percentage of new positive COVID-19 tests increased slightly from Sunday, to 2.8 percent, but that’s the fourth straight day of positives below 3 percent. Monday’s 174 new confirmed cases bring the total to 22,932.

In addition, hospitalizations have dropped rapidly after a stead rise through May, to 284 on Monday morning, the lowest in two months. One hundred of those patients were in intensive care.

UW System announces students will return to campuses this fall

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The University of Wisconsin System is planning to have students and staff back on campus for the fall semester. System President Ray Cross says they have been planning and preparing to prevent the spread of COVID-19 when they open up in person classes this fall.

The System’s Plan Ahead Team says they’ll be taking measures to keep people socially distanced in classes, while having larger courses meet online only. 180,000 thousand students are expected to be enrolled for Fall semester, and another 39,000 staff will be back to work.

Vos and Fitzgerald outraged over secret recording by Evers staff

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Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (WRN image)

The Wisconsin legislature’s Republican leaders tore into Governor Tony Evers staff on Wednesday, for recording a telephone meeting with them.

They were not told ahead of time, and in statements, state Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald called Evers “Nixonian,” while Assembly Speaker Robin called the move “unprecedented and clearly outside the norm.”

Evers spokeswoman Melissa Baldauff told The Capitol Times that Evers was not aware the May 14 meeting to discuss next steps for a statewide COVID-19 response was being recorded, and that he’s directed staff that it won’t happen again. But Baldauff did not apologize for the recording, and said the files were intended “for internal use only.”

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has posted the audio on its website.

Friday COVID-19 update: 20,249 positives but positive percentage continues downward trend

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Confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Wisconsin surpassed 20,000 on Friday. But numbers from the Department of Health Services show the percentage of positive test results continuing a downward trend.

Two-point-nine percent of the 12,322 new tests reported on Friday were positive. That’s 357 new confirmed cases, and the lowest rate since Sunday.

And despite much more widespread testing, analysis by USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin shows the amount of time it takes to double confirmed positive cases is extending. It took 18 days to go from 5,000 positives to 10,000, but 27 days to reach the 20,249 reported on Friday.

DHS reported seven more deaths due to COVID-19 on Friday, bringing the state total to 633 lives lost.

‘We’re by no means out of the woods’ with COVID-19 in Wisconsin

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“We’re by no means out of the woods.” That from Wisconsin’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. Ryan Westergaard on Thursday, in regards to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We have a percent positive rate, statewide of between three and five percent. Overall it is good. In certain communities that have percent positive rates of 20 to 30 percent, that’s a big problem. Because we know how quickly a community area hotspot, if not contained can spread into a larger community or regional hot spot.”

Four percent of more than 12-thousand new COVID-19 tests were positive on Thursday. That’s the highest percent positive in five days, but overall, the percent of positive tests has been trending down since testing began in the state in early May.

“This disease is still prevalent in communities . . . it is still spreading,” DHS Secretary Andrea Palm said during Thursday’s media conference call. “You can see that in the hundreds of positive cases we are getting on a daily basis.”

The Department of Health Services reported 10 more deaths Thursday, bringing the total number to 626 since the pandemic began. Confirmed cases increased by 492, for a total of 19,892.

Westergaard added that infections in nursing homes remain a concern. “Until we have a really low level, where infections in those settings are rare, I don’t feel like we’re going to feel like we’re anywhere close to being out of the woods. In fact we need to really double down now, to make sure that the number of facility investigations have all the resources they need to prevent them from spilling out to a wider community or regional epidemic.”

‘Wisconsin Unemployment Support Group’ Facebook group asks leaders for help

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The “Wisconsin Unemployment Support Group” on Facebook is asking state political leaders for help in securing benefits, during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

A letter sent to Assembly Speaker Robin Vos requests a special legislative session to be called to deal with the backlog.

Group administrator Chenon Times-Rainwater of West Bernd said she is still waiting, 14 weeks after filing her first application for the benefits. Times-Rainwater of West Bend says Vos was selected because he is in the best position to take the action needed. Additional letters have been sent to Governor Tony Evers and other state officials.

Evers joins multi-state coalition to reopen economies

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Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers has entered an agreement with governors of six states, to coordinate plans to reopen their economies, once the COVID-19 pandemic eases, and states are better able to manage the outbreak.

Evers and governors in Illinois, Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky claim they’re working on a plan to lift restrictions together.

According to statements from J.B. Pritzker of Illinois and Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, it will rely on meeting the following goals:

Sustained control of the rate of new infections and hospitalizations
Enhanced ability to test and trace
Sufficient health care capacity to handle resurgence
Best practices for social distancing in the workplace

In a joint statement, the governors said that coordinated approach doesn’t necessarily mean all seven states will reopen simultaneously.

Seven COVID-19 deaths and 585 confirmed cases in Wisconsin

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There have been 585 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Wisconsin. That’s according to the Wednesday afternoon update from the Department of Health Services.

There have also been two more deaths, a 60 year old man in Milwaukee, and the first death in Dane County, a person in their seventies.

That brings the total number of people who’ve died to seven. It’s a number that will continue to grow, and public health officials say by how much, and how fast, depends on how closely the rest pf us follow Governor Tony Evers “Safer at Home” order.

“If we continue on our current path, without implementing Safer at Home to flatten the curve, the models show us that we would likely have 22,000 Wisconsinites who are positive for COVID-19 by April 8, and an estimated 440 to 1,500 deaths,” DHS Secretary Andrea Palm said Tuesday.

The Milwaukee death was confirmed by the medical examiner’s office after DHS posted its daily update, which lists 6 total deaths.