Wisconsin sees 567 more COVID-19 cases confirmed as new cases, test positivity continue climb

State health officials reported no new COVID-19 deaths on Labor Day, but recent rates of new cases and test positivity continued to chart upward while many Wisconsinites relaxed.

There were 567 positives in 5,466 new test results confirmed by the Department of Health Services on Monday.

The percent of new tests that were positive, 10.4%, hit double figures for the fourth consecutive day — the first time that's happened since May 3, when labs' combined testing capacity was far lower.

And of all COVID-19 tests processed over the previous seven days — including preliminary negative results that were electronically reported but not yet manually confirmed — 10.2% were positive for COVID-19, the highest rate since the pandemic arrived in Wisconsin.

For perspective, that's up from 7.6% two weeks earlier, and 3% during the low point in early June.

The state's seven-day average of new cases per day also increased to 880, its highest point since July 27.

The state saw its peak seven-day average on July 26, when there had been 930 new cases per day over the past week.

One notable difference between the recent increase in new cases and that surge in late July is that more people were being tested then: On July 26, there had been an average of 13,308 tests done over the previous seven days. Monday, that seven-day average was down to 8,585.

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As of Sunday, Wisconsin was one of 21 states rated as having "uncontrolled spread" by public health experts running covidexitstrategy.org because of the recent increases in new cases and test positivity.

Wisconsin's recent rate of new cases per day ranked 18th among states, at 149 per million residents. North Dakota, at 362 per million, had the most.

Twelve states had recently seen a higher portion of their tests come back positive over the past two weeks, with Alabama topping the list at nearly 24%.

Of 81,760 Wisconsin residents who have tested positive for COVID-19 since the pandemic began:

• 72,478, or 88.7%, are listed by state health officials as "recovered," meaning there's proof their symptoms have resolved, or more than 30 days have passed since their diagnosis.
• 8,096, or 9.9%, are listed as "active," meaning they're not yet recovered and haven't died.
• At least 6,089, or 7.4%, have been or are hospitalized. It's not known in about a third of cases whether somebody was hospitalized.
• 1,168, or 1.4%, have died. Monday marked the second straight day with no new deaths after 46 combined over the five previous days.

Hospitalization levels have been relatively flat while new cases have increased. As of Sunday afternoon, Wisconsin hospitals reported 286 inpatients with confirmed cases of COVID-19. Of those inpatients, 96 were in intensive care.

Another 99 inpatients were awaiting test results.

Because of the lag time between exposure to the coronavirus and symptoms/testing, recent trends may say little about the impact of many thousands of K-12 and college students returning to classrooms around the state.

The state health and education departments have said they will not name schools with outbreaks, but journalists at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin are putting together a database of known cases that will publish in the coming days.

If you have correspondence from a school or health official, please share it using this link or email it to wis-schools@gannett.com, and also complete the survey below.

The state health department's ratings of county COVID-19 activity were as follows during its once-per-week update Wednesday, Sept. 2. Parentheses reflect a change in the activity level from the previous week's rating.

• High: Adams, Barron, Bayfield, Brown, Buffalo, Burnett, Calumet, Chippewa, Clark, Columbia, Crawford, Dane, Dodge, Douglas, Dunn, Eau Claire, Florence, Fond du Lac, Forest, Green, Green Lake, Iowa, Iron, Jackson, Jefferson, Juneau, Kenosha, Kewaunee, La Crosse, Langlade, Manitowoc, Marathon, Marinette, Marquette (up), Menominee (up), Milwaukee, Monroe, Oconto, Oneida, Outagamie, Ozaukee, Pierce, Polk, Portage, Racine, Richland (up), Rock, Sauk, Sawyer, Shawano, Sheboygan, St. Croix, Taylor, Trempealeau, Vernon, Vilas, Walworth, Washburn, Washington, Waukesha, Waupaca, Waushara, Winnebago, Wood 
• Medium: Ashland, Door (down), Grant (down), Lafayette (down), Lincoln, Pepin (down), Price, Rusk

Ratings are calculated using a combination of total new cases per 100,000 people over the past two weeks and the percent change in new cases between the past seven days and the seven days before that.

Statewide, there had been 170 confirmed cases per 100,000 residents over the previous two weeks. Rates were highest in Iron (580), Fond du Lac (340), Brown (330), Juneau (320), Oconto (300) and Outagamie (280) counties.

Contact Matt Piper at (920) 810-7164 or mpiper@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @matthew_piper.