Wisconsin sees 278 new cases of coronavirus
Test positivity rate back down after Thursday spike in results
Friday’s state COVID-19 update bucked a trend of late-week peaks in new cases, with 278 marking the fewest announced on a Friday since April 17.
The Department of Health Services’ online dashboard showed 278 new positive test results Friday, or about 2.5% of tests, compared with a record 733 cases three weeks earlier, on May 29.
On Friday, April 17, when testing capacity was strained and 170 positives were reported, the positivity rate was more than four times higher, at 10.9%.
Friday’s 2.5% test positivity rate was also more in line with recent averages after that key indicator of disease prevalence had ticked back up to 4% in Thursday’s batch of results.
The number of COVID-19 inpatients in Wisconsin hospitals stayed level at 241 in Friday morning’s update from the Wisconsin Hospital Association — the lowest point since early April. Ninety-one of those patients were in intensive care, up from Thursday’s low of 82 ICU patients. Another 158 inpatients were awaiting COVID-19 test results.
In less encouraging news, the state announced 11 more deaths due to COVID-19, the first time that figure reached double digits since June 11.
State health officials have noted that because of reporting delays, DHS case updates may lag symptom onset, and death reports may lag actual dates of death.
In total, there have been 24,154 confirmed cases and 730 deaths since the pandemic hit Wisconsin.
Wisconsin ranked 26th among U.S. states in total COVID-19 deaths before Friday’s state update, according to The New York Times’ online tracker. New York, with nearly 31,000 deaths, had the most. Per 100,000 people, more than 150 people in New York had died, compared with 12 in Wisconsin.