Wisconsin adds 981 COVID-19 cases, 8.3% of larger batch of tests
Compared with Monday, many more COVID-19 test results were reported by Wisconsin health officials Tuesday, and many more confirmed cases.
The difference between the two days was unusually pronounced: from 266 new cases Monday — the smallest increase since June 23 — to 981 on Tuesday, the biggest since Aug. 14.
It’s easily explained: More than three times as many test results were confirmed Tuesday. The 11,844 results were the most since Aug. 13 after Tuesday’s 3,818 were the fewest since June 1.
By another measure, the percentage of tests returning positive for the virus, the jump wasn’t quite so big: up from 7% on Monday to 8.3% on Tuesday.
Of all tests processed over the previous seven days — including preliminary results that had yet to be manually confirmed and included in state summary data — 8.4% were positive, compared with a seven-day low of 3% in early June.
Tuesday’s influx of newly confirmed tests aside, fewer people have been tested recently compared with late July and early August, when new case numbers were higher but test positivity was lower.
State health officials have acknowledged a shortage of key testing supplies but said they aren’t sure whether that’s fully responsible for the decrease in testing.
The state also reported Tuesday that the virus caused the deaths of eight more Wisconsin residents. Of 76,584 residents who have tested positive for COVID-19:
• 67,902, or 88.7%, are listed by state health officials as “recovered,” meaning there’s proof their symptoms have resolved, or more than 30 days have passed since their diagnosis.
• 7,534, or 9.8%, are listed as “active,” meaning they’re not yet recovered and haven’t died.
• At least 5,878, or 7.7%, have been or are hospitalized. It’s not known in about a third of cases whether somebody was hospitalized.
• 1,130, or 1.5%, have died.
As of Monday afternoon, Wisconsin hospitals reported 290 inpatients with confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 96 of them in intensive care. Another 113 inpatients were awaiting test results.