State reports 845 new coronavirus cases, another single-day record
The state health department confirmed 845 new COVID-19 cases Friday, closing out a week that saw multiple record-setting single-day highs and a steadily climbing seven-day average.
Two previous single-day records for new cases were also set in the past week — on July 4, with 738 cases, and on Thursday, with 754 new cases — signaling the rising infections that the state has been grappling with as some municipalities move to partially shut bars and restaurants or implement mandatory mask policies.
The positive cases make up about 6.7% of the 12,702 tests processed since the previous day. Five more deaths were reported Friday, bringing Wisconsin’s total to 814.
Day-to-day case numbers can fluctuate, perhaps due to less testing or reporting on the weekend – leading to lower single-day totals earlier in the week and higher ones later. But the seven-day rolling average is rising, too. On Friday, it reached 634. Last Friday, it stood at 510.
State labs ran an average of 9,560 tests per day since July 3, according to data from the Department of Health Services. But a New York Times report found that Wisconsin is one of 34 states that aren’t currently running enough tests to mitigate the spread of the virus.
The targets for testing, developed by Harvard researchers, vary by state and would add up to the current nationwide target of 1.6 million daily tests. Wisconsin is meeting just under half of its testing target, the report says.
Two hundred and seventy-eight people were hospitalized with COVID-19 on Friday, according to the Wisconsin Hospital Association. Of those, 77 were in the intensive care unit.