The percentage of coronavirus tests that came back positive rose again from 6.95 percent to eight percent. It’s gone down on five of the past seven days.
Governor Tony Evers’ “Badger Bounce Back” plan requires a 14-day decline in that measure, along with other indicators, before more businesses are allowed to open and groups can begin to gather. Over the past 14 days, that measure has been declining, but only slightly.
Wisconsin now has had a total of 10,250 cases, according to Department of Health Services and county public health data — an increase of 258.
Overall since the crisis began, 8.86 percent of all tests have come back positive. That’s slightly lower than it was yesterday, when it was 8.88 percent.
The largest increase in new cases today come from Milwaukee County, which increased by 77, and Brown County, with an increase of 63. More than 59 percent of tests in Brown County in the past 24 hours came back positive. An outbreak at a meat packing plant in Green Bay has significantly increased the number of positive cases in Brown County, which have now reached 1,897 in the county. That’s a rate of 730 cases per 100,000 residents — far higher than the second-highest rate, 414 in Milwaukee County.
The other hotspot counties that have shown no sign of cooling off is Racine County, which increased by 24 cases as 14 percent of tests came back positive, and Kenosha County,where 31 new cases were identified and a staggering 67 percent of tests came back positive.
A number of rural counties are also showing small flare-ups, including Calumet County, where five new cases were identified and 16.7 percent of tests came back positive; Dodge County, where 12 new cases were identified and 24.5 percent of tests came back positive; Walworth County, where six new cases were identified and 20 percent of tests came back positive and Barron County, where only two new cases were identified but only nine tests were processed, meaning 22 percent of tests came back positive.
The statewide death toll is now 400, with just two more fatalities since Friday afternoon.
The number of people hospitalized remained steady — 339 people are currently hospitalized with 110 in intensive care. Additionally, 200 are hospitalized awaiting test results. Of those, 243 are in Southeastern Wisconsin, and 41 are in Northeastern Wisconsin.
The rate of disparity in Latino populations continues to rise — 30 percent of total cases are now Latino people, and 32 percent of the new cases identified today. Latinos make up just seven percent of the state’s overall population.
Similarly, 21 percent of all cases are Black people, who also make up 30 percent of deaths. Black people make up just 6 percent of the state’s population.
Racial disparities also increased in Dane County, where Black people make up five percent of the population but 14 percent of coronavirus cases, and Latinos make up six percent of the population and 11 percent of coronavirus cases.
DHS also reports that 48 percent of those confirmed to have been infected have recovered and four percent have died.
