19 counties had ‘high’ virus levels last week
State’s new ratings look at cases, trajectory
As the City of Milwaukee plans to allow some restaurants to open at full capacity, Milwaukee County and 18 other Wisconsin counties had “high” levels of coronavirus activity as of last week, according to the state health department.
The Department of Health Services has begun rating counties’ activity levels from low to high, depicted in shades of blue on an online map made public Tuesday.
In a news release, DHS said the dashboard was published at the request of “our local health partners” and should help local decision-makers make sense of their current COVID-19 situations.
The map will be updated on Wednesdays, DHS said. On Tuesday afternoon, it was updated through June 17.
Also Tuesday, DHS reported 263 new positive results in nearly 12,000 tests. That positivity rate, 2.2%, is the lowest since June 9 and down from 4.6% on Sunday.
Five more people died of COVID-19, taking the pandemic’s Wisconsin death toll to 750.
There were 240 known COVID-19 inpatients in Wisconsin hospitals as of Tuesday morning and 142 other inpatients awaiting test results, according to the Wisconsin Hospital Association.
That’s the fewest COVID-positive inpatients since April 2 and the fewest awaiting test results since the WHA began reporting hospital admissions in early April.
Ninety-three known COVID patients were in intensive care Tuesday morning.
Counties rated on cases by population and growth
The DHS county activity ratings are based on two measures that DHS refers to as burden and trajectory.
A county’s “burden” is the number of confirmed cases it reported per 100,000 residents over the past two weeks. A county’s burden is considered to be at least “moderately high” if that case rate is greater than 50.
As of June 17, counties with the highest burdens were Milwaukee (170), Trempealeau (170), Winnebago (160), Racine (120) and Kenosha (98).
A county’s “trajectory” is the percent change in cases over two weeks. Trajectory is said to be “growing” if the percent change is greater than 10% and measures as statistically significant.
Counties with statistically significant case increases were Brown, Grant, La Crosse, Trempealeau and Sheboygan.
Counties rated as having “high” activity were: Brown, Clark, Fond du Lac, Forest, Grant, Jefferson, Kenosha, La Crosse, Lafayette, Milwaukee, Outagamie, Portage, Racine, Rock, Sheboygan, Trempealeau, Walworth, Waupaca and Winnebago.
Counties with “medium” activity were: Adams, Barron, Calumet, Columbia, Dane, Dodge, Eau Claire, Green, Green Lake, Jackson, Juneau, Kewaunee, Langlade, Manitowoc, Marathon, Marinette, Marquette, Menominee, Monroe, Oconto, Oneida, Ozaukee, Pierce, Polk, Rusk, St. Croix, Shawano, Taylor, Vernon, Washington, Waukesha, Waushara, Wood.
Counties with “low” activity were: Ashland, Bayfield, Buffalo, Burnett, Chippewa, Door, Douglas, Dunn, Florence, Iowa, Iron, Lincoln, Pepin, Price, Richland, Sauk, Sawyer, Vilas and Washburn.
In Juneau County — rated as having “medium” activity — a Wisconsin Dells strip club is the site of a COVID-19 outbreak, county health officials say.
Patrons who visited Cruisin’ Chubbys Gentlemen’s Club between June 10 and June 14 may have been exposed to the virus and should monitor themselves for symptoms, the Juneau’s health department said in an advisory.
Juneau County health officer Amanda Dederich declined to provide the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel with a number of cases tied to the club, citing an ongoing investigation.
An outbreak is defined by the Wisconsin Department of Health Services as two or more laboratory-confirmed cases of the illness within the same facility, or tied to the same event, within 28 days of each other.
According to covidexitstrategy.org — which rates states’ COVID-19 progress by measures of cases, symptoms, hospital capacity and testing — Wisconsin was one of seven states “trending better” as of Monday night, while 27 states were “trending poorly.”
Milwaukee plans to let some restaurants open at full capacity
Some Milwaukee restaurants would be allowed to open at full capacity in time for the Fourth of July holiday weekend under a pilot program the city plans to launch Friday.
Restaurants — but not bars — could open at 100% capacity if they apply and their plans for preventing the spread of coronavirus are approved by city officials, Health Commissioner Jeanette Kowalik said Tuesday.
The Milwaukee Health Department would evaluate a restaurant’s application and COVID-19 mitigation plans and then give a seal of approval, she said.
“This will begin on Friday and then it will take effect the following Friday, so right before the Fourth of July holiday weekend,” Kowalik said.
Under current city restrictions, restaurants are only allowed to open at 25% capacity.
Some restaurant owners have said such a plan would have a dramatic effect on their ability to reopen.
“Well, that’s sort of a game changer,” said Paul Bartolotta. Bartolotta Restaurants has 17 restaurants and catering facilities that include some of the top fine-dining establishments in Milwaukee.
Bartolotta said it was untenable for his group to open restaurants at 25% capacity and had opted to wait. He said the company has put together an exhaustive plan of best practices to reopen the restaurants with precautions like all staff and customers asked to wear masks.
Ristorante Bartolotta in Wauwatosa will likely be the first to reopen, he said.
Triciclo Peru owner Amy Narr said the restaurant would not take part.
“We feel like it’s way too soon to be opening at all,” Narr said. The empanada restaurant has not yet reopened its doors to dine-in customers.
“I’ve talked to my staff — I had to let 14 people go in March — they’re still not comfortable coming back to work from a safety standpoint,” she said.
Milwaukee officials are expected to announce Friday whether they believe the city is ready to move to the next phase of loosening coronavirus restrictions.