Wisconsin has record 2,887 new coronavirus cases, another 22 deaths

correction: Corrects the number of deaths. There are 22 new deaths in the county totals. One death attributed to COVID-19 in Marquette County was revised, so the death toll went up by 21.

MADISON, Wis. (WBAY) – The coronavirus surge in Wisconsin set new records in cases and hospitalizations, and the second-most deaths added to the death toll in one day on Thursday.

The Department of Health Services received 14,361 test results. Twenty percent (20.10%) were positive, setting a new daily record of 2,887 cases. The previous record was 2,817 cases, which was set on September 26, which was 22.4% of the 12,584 tests that day. Wisconsin is now averaging 2,405 new cases a day for the past 7 days.

Every county had new cases except Pepin. County case numbers are listed later in this article.

There were 22 deaths added to the state’s report Thursday. After a revision for Marquette County, the death toll rose by 21 to 1,348. Four deaths were added to Winnebago County’s total. Patients also died in Brown, Burnett, Eau Claire, Manitowoc, Milwaukee (6), Oneida, Portage, Rock, Washington (2), Waukesha (2) and Waupaca counties. The death rate went down to 1.08% -- where it was Tuesday before it rose with the record 27 deaths reported on Wednesday.

The state reports 109 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized, a record for a 24-hour period. The state is averaging 73 COVID-19 hospitalizations a day over the past 7 days, but with the faster growth in new cases the percentage of people diagnosed with coronavirus who needed hospitalization declined to 5.9%.

Thursday, the Wisconsin Hospital Association (WHA) reported there are 669 COVID-19 patients are in hospitals, 14 fewer than Wednesday which was an all-time high. Of those, 208 are in intensive care, 10 more than Wednesday. Daily hospitalization numbers take deaths and hospital discharges into account.

The WHA says 15% of ICU beds in the state are immediately available. The state says 17% of all the medical beds in the state are available.

Reports for the Fox Valley and Northeast regions have not been updated at the time of this writing. The latest numbers from Wednesday reported 17% of licensed medical beds in the state’s 134 hospitals were available. In the 8-county Fox Valley Region there were 109 COVID-19 patients with 15 in ICU, and 14% of beds are available. The 7-county Northeast Region had 113 patients, 34 in ICU, with 21% of beds available.

To date, 7,409 people were hospitalized in Wisconsin for COVID-19 treatment since the pandemic began.

Because of the surge, active cases represent a growing percentage of all cases. Now 17.7% of all cases were identified in the past 30 days or aren’t medically cleared. The state has 22,126 active cases compared to 101,669 people (81.2%) who are considered recovered.

[CLICK HERE to find a community testing site]

Health Departments Overwhelmed

Manitowoc and Door county health departments this week announced they can’t keep up with contact tracing because of the surge in coronavirus cases. State health officials say other counties are getting overwhelmed, too, making it difficult to identify the source of outbreaks. Some health departments are now asking people who test positive to reach out themselves to the people they’ve had direct contact with and advise them to quarantine until the 14th day from their last contact. Health Secretary Andrea Palm urges people who test positive to pick up calls from contact tracers and answer questions as thoroughly as possible.

Guidance for local health departments

The DHS released a document local health departments can use for guidance to slow the spread of the virus.

For counties with Very High case activity -- which is a majority of counties in Northeastern Wisconsin -- the recommendations read very much like the Safer-at-Home order early in the pandemic: Consider closing indoor and outdoor bars; restaurants should consider only takeout, pickup or delivery; no indoor gatherings beyond members of the household and limit outdoor gatherings to 10 people or fewer with social distancing and face coverings; only essential workers in offices and workplaces with monitoring of symptoms, physical distance and masks; limit retail to 5 customers at a time and consider curbside pickup or mail delivery; consider not holding outdoor concerts, festivals or sporting events; consider not opening gyms or campgrounds except with minimum operations. You can read the document HERE.

Health experts say face masks are still the most effective way the general public can slow the spread of the coronavirus, but only if the masks are worn appropriately -- over the nose and chin. County and state health officials are reminding and urging people to stay home when they feel sick, avoid large gatherings, and distance yourself six feet from people who aren’t from your household.

To help people understand how their decisions affect their own health and others, the Department of Health Services has a decision tool at https://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/covid-19/decision.htm. The tool describes how choices matter and offers suggestions to make activities safer.

New web tools show county, hospital burdens

The Department of Health Services debuted two more online tools Wednesday to help people understand the spread of the COVID-19 virus in their county and how it’s affecting hospitals. “This data is increasingly important for us and local decision makers as this pandemic gets increasingly critical,” DHS Deputy Secretary Julie Willems Van Dijk told Action 2 News Wednesday.

A display of disease activity indicates whether counties are experiencing a low to very high spread of the virus based on new cases per capita and also indicates how many counties at each level are continuing to see a rise in cases or are starting to see cases wane. A look at hospital capacity offers a graphical look at daily hospitalizations for COVID-19 and what percent of beds (including ICU beds) and ventilators are available. The state updates these charts every Wednesday by 4 P.M.

Disease activity by county: https://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/covid-19/disease.htm

Hospital capacity: https://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/covid-19/capacity.htm

The state also improved its charts to display 7-day averages for the percent of tests coming back positive, including a chart that includes people tested more than once. The DHS will continue only reporting results for a person once in its summary data, which is the information Action 2 News relies on for its reports each day and is the most widely accepted method for reporting results, including by the CDC.

And the state is further breaking down case numbers among youth, so schools and parents can get a better idea of how the coronavirus is spreading among, say, preschool vs. elementary vs. high school ages.

THURSDAY’S CASE NUMBERS (counties with additional cases and/or deaths are indicated in bold)

Wisconsin

• Adams - 265 cases (+6) (4 deaths)
• Ashland - 133 cases (+6) (2 deaths)
• Barron - 498 cases (+8) (6 deaths)
• Bayfield - 120 cases (+5) (1 death)
• Brown - 9,796 cases (+260) (66 deaths) (+1)
• Buffalo - 147 cases (+4) (2 deaths)
• Burnett - 208 cases (+3) (4 deaths) (+1)
• Calumet - 1,342 cases (+60) (5 deaths)
• Chippewa - 595 cases (+10)
• Clark – 436 cases (+20) (8 deaths)
• Columbia - 698 cases (+19) (3 deaths)
• Crawford – 184 cases (+5)
• Dane – 10,201 cases (+73) (43 deaths)
• Dodge – 2,003 cases (+44) (17 deaths)
• Door - 384 cases (+14) (3 deaths)
• Douglas - 522 cases (+19)
• Dunn - 633 cases (+21) (1 death)
• Eau Claire - 2,016 cases (+16) (7 deaths) (+1)
• Florence - 99 cases (+1) (2 deaths)
• Fond du Lac – 2,296 cases (+74) (14 deaths)
• Forest - 297 cases (+3) (6 deaths)
• Grant – 1,111 cases (+52) (19 deaths)
• Green - 563 cases (+7) (3 deaths)
• Green Lake - 323 cases (+19)
• Iowa - 198 cases (+4)
• Iron - 143 cases (+1) (1 death)
• Jackson - 164 cases (+8) (1 death)
• Jefferson - 1,543 cases (+28) (8 deaths)
• Juneau - 428 cases (+17) (2 deaths)
• Kenosha - 3,611 cases (+22) (68 deaths)
• Kewaunee - 627 cases (+25) (2 deaths)
• La Crosse – 3,205 cases (+75) (3 deaths)
• Lafayette - 331 cases (+22)
• Langlade - 236 cases (+15) (2 deaths)
• Lincoln - 261 cases (+17) (1 death)
• Manitowoc – 1,236 cases (+49) (5 deaths) (+1)
• Marathon - 1,633 cases (+86) (15 deaths)
• Marinette - 1,024 cases (+20) (8 deaths)
• Marquette - 309 cases (+5) (2 deaths) (deaths revised -1 by state)
• Menominee - 99 cases (+11)
• Milwaukee – 29,478 (+329) (538 deaths) (+6)
• Monroe - 595 cases (+28) (3 deaths)
• Oconto - 1,025 cases (+59) (4 deaths)
• Oneida - 519 cases (+29) (3 deaths) (+1)
• Outagamie – 5,085 cases (+204) (30 deaths)
• Ozaukee - 1,046 cases (+13) (19 deaths)
• Pepin – 68 cases
• Pierce – 456 cases (+6) (7 deaths)
• Polk – 263 cases (+10) (2 deaths)
• Portage - 1,545 cases (+33) (7 deaths) (+1)
• Price - 135 cases (+16)
• Racine - 5,061 cases (+85) (98 deaths)
• Richland - 166 cases (+19) (4 deaths)
• Rock – 2,670 cases (+51) (33 deaths) (+1)
• Rusk - 66 cases (+2) (1 death)
• Sauk - 965 cases (+21) (4 deaths)
• Sawyer - 229 cases (+4) (1 death)
• Shawano – 1,080 cases (+66) (1 death)
• Sheboygan - 1,970 cases (+156) (18 deaths)
• St. Croix - 970 cases (+10) (9 deaths)
• Taylor - 206 cases (+4) (4 deaths)
• Trempealeau - 686 cases (+16) (2 deaths)
• Vernon - 257 cases (+10) (1 death)
• Vilas - 243 cases (+6) (1 death)
• Walworth - 2,645 cases (+16) (35 deaths)
• Washburn – 116 cases (+2) (1 death)
• Washington - 2,750 cases (+53) (36 deaths) (+2)
• Waukesha - 7,777 cases (+173) (92 deaths) (+2)
• Waupaca – 1,203 cases (+81) (21 deaths) (+1)
• Waushara - 413 cases (+28) (3 deaths)
• Winnebago – 4,317 cases (+183) (32 deaths) (+4)
• Wood - 878 cases (+21) (5 deaths)

Michigan’s Upper Peninsula

• Alger - 19 cases (+2)
• Baraga - 30 cases (+3) (2 deaths)
• Chippewa - 52 cases (+1)
• Delta – 517 cases (+18) (8 deaths)
• Dickinson – 180 cases (+9) (2 deaths)
• Gogebic - 155 cases (+2) (1 death)
• Houghton – 495 cases (+17) (3 deaths) (+1)
• Iron – 214 cases (+15) (5 deaths) (+1)
• Keweenaw – 11 cases (+1)
• Luce – 12 cases
• Mackinac - 51 cases (+2)
• Marquette - 337 cases (+2) (12 deaths)
• Menominee - 380 cases (+15) (2 deaths)
• Ontonagon – 42 cases
• Schoolcraft - 29 cases (+2)

The State of Michigan will only report county case numbers Monday-Saturday. State health officials say weekend data are often erratic and generally lower than other days due to reduced testing and lab staffing.

Symptoms

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention identified these as possible symptoms of COVID-19:

• Fever of 100.4 or higher
• Cough
• Shortness of breath
• Chills
• Repeated shaking with chills
• Muscle pain
• Headache
• Sore throat
• New loss of taste or smell

Prevention

• The coronavirus is a new, or “novel,” virus. Nobody has a natural immunity to it. Children and teens seem to recover best from the virus. Older people and those with underlying health conditions (heart disease, diabetes, lung disease) are considered at high risk, according to the CDC. Precautions are also needed around people with developing or weakened immune systems.
• To help prevent the spread of the virus:
• Stay at least six feet away from other people
• Avoid close contact with people who are or appear sick
• Stay at home as much as possible
• Cancel events and avoid groups, gatherings, play dates and nonessential appointments
• Stay home when you are sick, except to get medical care
• Wash your hands regularly for at least 20 seconds. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol
• Cover your mouth and nose with a mask. At a minimum, use a tissue when you cough or sneeze or use the inside of your elbow.

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