State confirms 20 more COVID-19 deaths
Positive cases rise with increased testing
Twenty people were added to the state’s official count of COVID-19 deaths on Saturday, continuing an uptick that began Wednesday and which comes as the state appears to be bucking a national trend toward decreased hospitalizations.
All told, 588 people have died of COVID-19 in Wisconsin. Of those, 71 deaths were announced in the past four days, marking a 14% increase. Just 64 total deaths were announced in the previous 10 days.
The state’s record for new deaths in a day is 22, set Wednesday. The Department of Health Services notes on its website that its daily updates reflect the day a death was reported to public health, not necessarily when the death occurred.
The state announced 523 new confirmed cases of the coronavirus on Saturday — down from Friday’s total of 733, the highest yet — out of more than 9,800 new tests.
“I think we are experiencing what other states have experienced. Every state has its own trajectory. Some states have become hot spots because of a cluster of infections.”
Nasia Safdar medical director of infection control at UW Health
Wisconsin’s daily case numbers increased as testing has shot up, too, and state officials and infectious disease experts have cautioned against drawing conclusions from the case numbers alone.
In May, the seven-day moving average of the percent of new tests that were positive for the virus fell from over 10% to about 5%, which is where it was Saturday.
By a couple of measures, though, Wisconsin has yet to mirror more positive national trends.
Wisconsin’s hospitalization rate has crept slightly upward in May, in contrast to the downward trend seen in Centers for Disease Control and Prevention hospitalization data that tracks about 10% of the
U.S. population. In those areas, the weekly rate of hospitalizations fell by half between the weeks ending May 2 and May 23.
The state’s hospitalizations due to COVID-19 went down slightly Saturday after reaching their highest point in more than a month on Friday — 423 patients — according to an online dashboard hosted on the Wisconsin Hospital Association website.
There were 409 COVID-19 hospitalizations Saturday, with 144 of those patients in intensive care. Another 208 inpatients were awaiting COVID-19 test results.
A weekly report on COVID-19 from the CDC showed that for the weeks ending May 16 and May 23, Wisconsin was an outlier in another metric used by epidemiologists to track the coronavirus’ spread: outpatients treated for flu-like illnesses.
Wisconsin is the lone state to be ratworth ed “high” by the CDC for flu-like illness activity.
Nasia Safdar, who studies infectious disease at the University of WisconsinMadison and is medical director of infection control at UW Health, said Saturday that those numbers might be misleadingly ominous, and that it’s possible Wisconsin’s activity is driven by a few hot spots that emerged in recent weeks.
Examples of concentrated growth include those in predominantly Latino neighborhoods on the south side of Milwaukee, the state’s meatpacking plants and at other workplaces like Kenosha’s Amazon facilities.
Kenosha County heath officials announced Saturday that 45 residents of a long-term care facility there have tested positive for COVID-19.
“I think we are experiencing what other states have experienced,” Safdar said. “Every state has its own trajectory. Some states have become hot spots because of a cluster of infections.”
Safdar said hospitalizations are likely a “pretty reliable indicator” of overall COVID-19 incidence, but a week or two’s
“... Our Hispanic communities are at particular risk of COVID-19 due to a combination of historical marginalization and institutional discrimination, as well as frequent essential worker status with jobs that do not allow for sick time and physical distancing.” Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett
of hospitalization data is not enough to indicate a meaningful trend.
Health officials will be keeping an eye on that data, as well as whether the percentage of positive cases increases, or there’s a statistically significant trend of new deaths.
That would suggest people are moving more and spreading the disease — a “legitimate concern,” she said.
Milwaukee’s south side sees ‘very, very serious’ spike
Confirmed cases of the coronavirus increased by 577 in Milwaukee County’s majority Latino or Hispanic census tracts between May 21 and May 28, out of just 904 tests.
That percent-positive rate — 64% — is nearly six times the rate for the rest of the county, and it led Milwaukee officials to express concern Friday. Mayor Tom Barrett described the situation as “very, very serious.”
Statewide, Hispanic and Latino residents account for one in three cases, despite making up just 7% of the population.
Many of the new Milwaukee cases are in the city’s south-side 53215 and 53204 ZIP codes. Ben Weston, medical services director for Milwaukee County’s Office of Emergency Management, said officials are still waiting on a large number of test results from samples taken by the National Guard on the south side.
“We have seen on a national level that our Hispanic communities are at particular risk of COVID-19 due to a combination of historical marginalization and institutional discrimination, as well as frequent essential worker status with jobs that do not allow for sick time and physical distancing,” he said.
African Americans have also been disproportionately affected by the virus, accounting for 19% of the state’s cases despite making up just 6% of the total population.
The county reported 7,672 cases overall Saturday, an increase of 268.
Catholic churches begin reopening as cases climb
Despite concerns about climbing numbers of COVID-19 cases and city restrictions on gatherings of 10 or more people, some church services are returning in Milwaukee — though parishes on the city’s hard-hit south side will remain closed.
Barrett said Friday he had “very constructive” conversations with faith leaders and didn’t say whether the city would attempt to enforce its order if religious gatherings surpassed 10 people.
The city’s order explicitly says religious services should include no more than 10 people, but a spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee — which has 200 parishes in 10 counties — said in a statement that religious gatherings and worship are “essential.”
“So, we don’t believe we are in any violation of the city order and, as such, don’t expect any consequences,” Amy Grau said in the statement.
Catholic parishes have been told to limit attendance to 25% capacity and pastors have been told not to reopen if they don’t feel their parish is ready. Roughly 40 parishes decided not to reopen for Mass this weekend.
The Diocese of Green Bay announced earlier this month that it would not yet return to Mass this weekend. Dioceses in La Crosse and Madison reportedly would, however.
City Health Commissioner Jeanette Kowalik said officials are ‘continuing to see outbreaks related to congregations in religious settings” and advised against allowing larger gatherings.