Deaths due to COVID-19 jump by 6 in Shawano County, 1 in Oconto County

Green Bay Press-Gazette

This graphic shows the counties with the highest number of COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents since the start of the pandemic.

OCONTO – The death toll from COVID-19 rose to 14 in Shawano County on Tuesday, as six more deaths were posted on the state's online records.

The death of an eighth Oconto County resident was also disclosed in the update tally of COVID-19 statistics released Tuesday afternoon by the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.

Both counties experienced a surge of cases over the past several weeks, and currently rank third and fourth respectively, as having the most cases per 100,000 residents over the past 14 days.

First and second on that list are neighboring Menominee and Langlade counties, which have seen an explosion of cases this month.

As of Tuesday, Menominee County has the most of cases per 100,000 residents since the start of the pandemic — with more than 5,000 — followed closely by Shawano, Oconto, Calumet, Kewaunee, Winnebago and Forest counties.

All but one of the deaths in Shawano County took place this month, with the first death recorded in September.

Four Shawano County residents died Oct. 2, and two died on Oct. 6. The other deaths were on Oct. 4, 7, 12, 14, 15, 17 and 18.

In Oconto County, there have been four deaths in October, with all of the deaths occurring in the last 11 weeks.

This latest death occurred on Oct. 14.

The seventh death, disclosed on Monday, happened on Oct. 15. The county’s fifth and sixth COVID-19 deaths occurred Oct. 9 and 10 and were added to the state website on Oct. 14.

The first death in the county occurred Aug. 7, followed by Aug. 18, Aug. 26 and Sept. 3.

Statewide, the number of deaths as of Tuesday reached 1,633, an increase of 33 over Monday and 125 since Oct. 13.

Just over half of deaths occurred in Milwaukee (557), Racine (102) and Waukesha (106) and Kenosha (71).

Winnebago (51) and Outagamie (51) added two deaths each on Tuesday to break the 50 mark.

The only other county with more than 50 deaths is Brown with 86, up one from Monday.

The number of deaths in other northeastern counties as of Tuesday, with the increase from Monday in parentheses, are:

Door — 4
Florence — 4
Forest — 10
Kewaunee — 5 (+1)
Langlade — 7 (+1)
Marinette — 10 (+1)
Menominee — 0

The number of Oconto County residents who have tested positive for COVID-19 climbed to 1,817, up 66 from Monday and 233 in the last week.

About 47% of all positive tests in Oconto County have come during October. Another 31% occurred in September.

As of Monday, Oconto County had 327 active cases, up 24 from Monday.

The number of residents in the hospital with COVID-19 increased by two since Monday to 94, according to the Oconto County Public Health Office.

In Shawano County, there were 1,998 confirmed cases as of Tuesday, while Menominee County has 239 cases and Langlade 704.

The northeast region — which includes Florence, Marinette, Oconto, Brown, Door, Kewaunee and Manitowoc counties — had 179 COVID-19 hospital patients as of Monday, up 10 from Sunday.

Statewide, hospitals had 1,172 COVID-19 patients, with 302 of them in intensive care. A total of 450 were receiving mechanical ventilation.

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Contact Kent Tempus at (920) 431-8226 or ktempus@gannett.com.