Positive cases of COVID-19, along with hospitalizations and deaths due the disease, continue to increase in Wisconsin.
The state Department of Health Services on Friday reported 2,504 new confirmed cases, with a positive test rate of 16.6 percent. DHS reported nine more deaths due to COVID-19, and 65 more hospitalizations, pushing those numbers to 1,274 and lives lost and 530 currently hospitalized patients, 151 in intensive care.
Your #COVID19_WI update and another day with more than 2,500 reported cases, plus 65 people hospitalized. Please, protect yourself and your community: stay home if you can, physical distance, #MaskUpWisconsin, and wash hands often. #YouStopTheSpread: https://t.co/azIna3TqRR pic.twitter.com/InUQDFyBl7
— WIDeptHealthServices (@DHSWI) September 25, 2020
The continued increase in numbers comes as state and local public health officials plead for people to take recommended precautions like face masks and social distancing.
“All 72 counties in Wisconsin are seeing high disease burden. This is a statewide challenge, and we must meet it with both statewide and individual action. That is why extending the mask mandate is so important,” said Department of Health Services Secretary designee Andrea Palm on Thursday.
“Yes, our case numbers are going up. And we also know that masks work. The science shows that they form a barrier against respiratory droplets that spread COVID-19,” Palm said “Mask wearing is only effective the more we do it together.”
There have been more than 110,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus since the start of the pandemic, of which more than 83 percent are considered as “recovered” by DHS.