DHS: 7,314 Confirmed COVID-19 Cases In Wisconsin

There are 7,314 positive cases of COVID-19 in Wisconsin, the state Department of Health Services announced Friday. That’s an increase of 460 cases from the day before.

Friday saw the largest single-day increase in positive cases the state has seen since the outbreak began. Previously, the largest single-day increase was a jump on Thursday of 334 positive cases.

The state has increased its testing capacity.

On Friday, DHS reported 72,566 negative cases, an increase of 3,172 from Thursday to Friday.

A key metric outlined in Gov. Tony Evers’ “Badger Bounce Back” plan is for the percentage of positive cases to be in decline over a 14-day period. According to state data, 10.8 percent of tests were positive on Thursday, and 12.7 percent were positive on Friday.

According to figures from DHS, 327 people in Wisconsin have died from COVID-19 as of Friday afternoon.

DHS reports 1,544 people have been hospitalized because of the virus. That means at least 21 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 1,555 cases, or 21 percent.

Brown County has seen a surge in positive tests after health officials traced hundreds of cases to meatpacking facilities there. As of Friday afternoon, Brown County had 1,175 positive cases of the new coronavirus — an increase of 118 cases from Thursday.

According to the Brown County Health Department, as of Wednesday, there were 262 confirmed cases among employees at JBS Packerland in Green Bay, with 86 linked cases. American Foods Group in Green Bay has 170 confirmed cases among employees, with 27 linked cases.

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

As of Friday afternoon, Wisconsin has 50 labs performing COVID-19 tests, up from eight labs in March. According to DHS, they’re able to process 11,047 samples per day. The state has a goal of completing about 12,000 tests per day, DHS Secretary Andrea Palm said Monday.

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. Drive-thru testing is available Friday at the Buffalo County Highway stop in Alma, and more testing sites will be announced in the coming days.

There are confirmed cases in 67 of Wisconsin’s 72 counties. Lincoln County reported its first positive case Friday.

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