With testing and reporting slow over the holiday weekend, the state of Wisconsin reported just over 4,500 new coronavirus tests on Sunday, of which 2,446 were positive, for a positive test rate of about 53.3 percent, the highest single-day rate ever.
It is likely that the holiday weekend has slowed test processing and reporting such that testing focused on those most likely to test positive, and reporting prioritized positive tests, thus artificially inflating the daily positive test rate.
The seven-day positive rate for all people tested, which would be less subject to such data anomalies, also continued its increase, rising from 30.7 to 31 — the highest since December 6 — and the positive rate for all tests increased remained steady at 10.8. The number of active cases stayed at just under under 27,000 — about 5.5 percent of the 486,526 total cases the state has confirmed to date.
The state of Wisconsin also reported five COVID deaths on Saturday, bringing the total death toll to 4,875. Since March, an additional 136 people have tested positive for COVID but died of other causes. With lower numbers of death certificates being processed over the holidays, the seven-day average of reported deaths has fallen to 26.14, but the 30-day average is 44.
The seven-day average of new cases per day jumped by nearly 200 to 2,396.
The number of people currently hospitalized due to COVID in Wisconsin increased sharply, rising by 51 to 1,069. The number of patients in intensive care units, however, fell by five 225.
The table below shows new cases, new cases per 100,000 residents and new deaths for each county. Click on the header of any column to sort the data by that column.
