Madison, Wis. (WMTV) – The spread of COVID-19 in Wisconsin is off the charts, literally.
So far, many counties have been in the past by the Department of Health’s highest classification for case activity, so there was a need to create a new category. And, however, its minimum cutoff is almost three times higher than the old top category:
- Nearly every Wisconsin county surpassed that limit.
- The whole state too.
In fact, DHS numbers state more than 30 percent of Wisconsin’s case activity minimum.
“Many of our communities are still in a critical state,” said DHS Deputy Secretary Julie Willems van Dejak. “To put these new figures in perspective, Wisconsin is now seeing more average cases per day than New York City did at the peak of its huge spring.”
To be considered for the previous top category, “Very High”, an area’s case rate would have to exceed 350 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. Each of Wisconsin’s 72 counties has at least doubled that number, with the Washburn company reporting the lowest rate in the state at 769.6 cases per 100,000 people.
The new “critically high” level sets the bar for 1,000 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. Only seven counties are below:
- Burnet County (899.9 / 100K)
- Dane County (951.2 / 100K)
- Douglas County (827.4 / 100K)
- Green County (832.8 / 100K)
- Vernon County (782.5 / 100K)
- Walworth County (973.5 / 100K)
- Washburn County (769.6 / 100K)
Of that septate, only Green County’s case rate is not upward.
For the entire state of Wisconsin, its burden sits at 1,310.6 cases per 100,000 residents, with DHS noting that the figure has jumped nearly 25 percent in the past two weeks. The seven-day rolling average of new cases hit an all-time high on Wednesday, pushing 6,000 cases in the past week as the state recorded days of more than 7,000 cases.
“Because of these severely high levels of disease, public health can no longer adequately detect contact, hospital beds are filled with patients with COVID-19, and many families in Wisconsin are loved by the virus. Are losing, ”continued Willems van Dyck.
He added that by adding this new level, the agency hopes that people will gain a better understanding of the coronovirus prevalent in their community – and hopes to follow the government’s latest executive order and stay home.
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