MADISON, Wis. — More than 100 Wisconsinites were hospitalized with COVID-19 between Wednesday and Thursday, according to the state Department of Health Services.
At least 51 more people have died of coronavirus complications, which puts the statewide death toll at 4,360*. DHS officials said there have also been 129 new hospitalizations since Wednesday afternoon. Out of the state’s 11,117 hospital beds, 18% are available for new patients.
State and county health officials recorded 3,357* new cases of the virus, which is above Wednesday’s count and the seven-day rolling average of 3,191. Although Thursday had an increase in confirmed cases, the overall trend is still moving downward in Wisconsin.
The state has reached a lifetime total of 448,803* confirmed cases, with 9% of those cases still active.
According to DHS data, the majority of Wisconsin’s counties have been labeled with “very high” activity levels for disease spread. Seventeen counties remain at “critically high” levels as of Wednesday evening.
The seven-day positivity rate of new tests by person saw a slight increase to 27.8%, while the seven-day equivalent for total tests by day went down to 10.3%.
Starting next week, Wisconsin health officials are planning to use a voluntary smartphone app that will help with contact tracing.
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*News 3 Now uses data from DHS and county dashboards to calculate daily cases and deaths. DHS posts new numbers daily at 2 p.m., and our newsroom continues to update our totals throughout the day with additional cases that individual counties report. By using a combination of state and county data, News 3 Now is dedicated to providing the most comprehensive and up-to-date COVID-19 coverage.
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