Vast majority of Wisconsin counties now have ‘critically high’ COVID-19 activity levels

MADISON, Wis. — The Wisconsin Department of Health Services has added a “critically high” category on its Disease Activity Dashboard to indicate the “alarming” COVID-19 activity counties throughout the state.

DHS officials said the new category is nearly three times higher than “very high.” The state and 65 of 72 counties are currently classified as “critically high.”

“Far too many of our communities are in a dire situation,” DHS Deputy Secretary Julie Willems Van Dijk said. “To put these new data in perspective, Wisconsin is now seeing more average cases per day than New York City did at the peak of its surge last spring. Because of these critically high levels of disease, public health can no longer adequately contact trace, hospital beds are filled with patients with COVID-19, and too many Wisconsin families are losing loved ones to this virus.”

Counties with categorized as “critically high” have more than 1,000 cases per 100,000 residents, according to the DHS.

Three counties in southern Wisconsin, Dane, Green and Walworth, are among the seven counties with “very high” coronavirus activity.

In just one month, health officials have confirmed an additional 133,725 cases of the coronavirus. That’s 46% of the state’s lifetime total. More than 1,000 Wisconsinites have died from the coronavirus since Oct. 12.

The news comes a day after Gov. Tony Evers announced another emergency order advising Wisconsinites to stay home as much as possible as the virus continues to spread throughout the state at record pace.

COPYRIGHT 2020 BY CHANNEL 3000. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.