DHS: 8,236 Confirmed COVID-19 Cases In Wisconsin

There are 8,236 positive cases of COVID-19 in Wisconsin as of Monday, according to the state Department of Health Services. That’s an increase of 272 cases from the day before.

According to health officials, 340 people in Wisconsin have died from COVID-19 as of Monday afternoon.

DHS reported 80,467 negative tests for the new coronavirus, an increase of 2,470 from Sunday to Monday.

According to DHS, 1,621 people have been hospitalized because of the virus. That means at least 20 percent of people who have tested positive for the new coronavirus in the state have been hospitalized. DHS officials have said they don’t know the hospitalization history of 1,879 cases, or 23 percent.

A key metric outlined in Gov. Tony Evers’ “Badger Bounce Back” plan for reopening the state is for the percentage of positive cases to be in decline over a 14-day period. According to state data, 12.7 percent of tests were positive on Friday, 10.3 percent were positive Saturday, 11.1 percent were positive Sunday, and 9.9 percent were positive Monday.

With the recent increases in testing capacity, health officials have loosened restrictions on who can get tested, subject to the availability of testing supplies.

On Monday, Evers announced the state’s plan to make Wisconsin one of the top states in testing per capita. Evers said Wisconsin is preparing to provide 85,000 COVID-19 tests per week.

This will be done by working with the Wisconsin National Guard to deploy teams to employer outbreak sites; providing free testing and diagnostics to Wisconsin’s 373 nursing homes; increasing the number of free drive-thru testing sites; and providing more supplies to health care systems so people who want a test can have one, Evers said.

As of Monday afternoon, Wisconsin has 51 labs performing COVID-19 tests, up from eight labs in March. According to DHS, they’re able to process 11,347 samples per day. The state has a goal of completing about 12,000 tests per day, DHS Secretary Andrea Palm has said.

According to a press release, the State Emergency Operations Center, DHS, Wisconsin Emergency Management and Wisconsin National Guard are working with local health departments to hold community testing events in places with a known lack of access to testing or where additional testing is needed. The Wisconsin National Guard tested almost 200 people at a drive-thru testing site at the Buffalo County Highway stop in Alma over the weekend. More testing sites were announced Sunday in northwest Wisconsin including Barron, Eau Claire, Polk, Washburn and Ashland counties.

There are confirmed cases in 67 of Wisconsin’s 72 counties.

The following counties have no confirmed cases as of Monday afternoon: Burnett, Forest, Langlade, Pepin and Taylor.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to show there have been 8,236 positive cases of coronavirus.