307 more positive cases in state
MPS employees back to work today
Wisconsin sees its lowest one-day increase of coronavirus cases in a week Monday.
Just more than 300 more Wisconsinites have tested positive for COVID-19, the lowest one-day increase in a week.
The state Department of Health Services reported Monday that 7,480 more COVID-19 tests were processed and 307 — or 4.1% — came back positive.
Meanwhile, Milwaukee Public Schools employees were poised to return to work Tuesday morning, despite concerns by some that the district can’t keep them safe from the coronavirus.
And Milwaukee County reported 6,403 total COVID-19 cases and 256 deaths as of Monday afternoon. There were no additional deaths reported Monday.
For the fifth day in a row in the county, more than 20% of coronavirus tests came back positive on Saturday, the latest data available. The county’s daily goal is to have 10% or fewer positive tests, which it has not achieved since May 9.
The county had 194 hospitalized coronavirus patients as of Monday, up from 189 on Sunday.
In total, 15,584 Wisconsin residents have tested positive for the virus and 193,379 tests have come back negative as of Monday.
More than 9,200 people who were previously diagnosed with coronavirus have recovered. That’s about 59% of cases. DHS considers 5,862 people — 38% of all cases — to be actively sick as of Monday.
Four more Wisconsinites have died from the virus since Sunday evening, bringing the state’s death total to 514.
The number of COVID-19 patients across the state who are currently hospitalized has decreased.
As of 11 a.m. Monday, the Wisconsin Hospital Association reported 388 patients were admitted to hospitals. That’s 11 fewer than reported Sunday.
Of those patients, according to the association, 121 are in the intensive care unit, five fewer than reported Sunday.
More than 5.4 million cases of coronavirus have been confirmed globally and 344,503 have died, according to Johns Hopkins University. In the United States, 97,974 people have died from the virus and more than 1.6 million people have been infected as of Monday afternoon.
MPS employees returning to work
Scores of Milwaukee Public Schools workers were scheduled to return to their stations Tuesday, including principals, central office administrators and support staff, safety workers, deans of students, janitorial workers, nurses, food workers and others.
Teachers are not being called back because in-class instruction has ended for the year, though they are entering buildings in small groups to pack up and shut down their classrooms. And MPS buildings will remain closed to the public.
At least two employees said on social media that they were considering moving out of their homes into apartments to keep other family members safe.
“We have we have hundreds of employees who work in cramped spaces with no room, and few bathrooms between us,” one said in a post on Reddit.
MPS said it is taking extensive precautions to keep employees safe.
“The health and safety of everyone in our MPS family continues to be our top priority. All precautionary measures taken for staff returning to work are under the guidance of our elected leaders and health officials,” it said in a statement.
In a letter to staff earlier this month, it said the district was ramping up the cleaning and disinfecting of buildings; providing masks, gloves and other protection for workers; requiring staff to practice social distancing; and limiting gatherings and meetings to 10 people at a time.