More Wisconsin counties bumped to 'high' coronavirus activity levels as Milwaukee expands, Dane County shuts down indoor bar service

As Wisconsin health officials said Wednesday that several counties are seeing a rise in coronavirus activity, a Racine judge threw out the city's sweeping coronavirus ordinance, saying it violated the state constitution because it interfered with the right to assemble.

The ruling applies only to Racine, but the city's immediate appeal could lead to a decision in a higher court that would affect other communities.

The decision came the same day Dane County authorities shut down indoor service at bars following a surge of new coronavirus cases. 

At risk is University of Wisconsin-Madison's plan to welcome students back to campus this fall.

Jeff Pothof, University of Wisconsin Health chief quality and safety officer, said if local health officials don't try to stop the spread of the virus in Dane County, in-person instruction could be called off.

"If we’re unable to get on top of this current spike and it continues to accelerate, we may be in a position where it won't make sense to be holding in-person classes," he said.

Statewide, hospitalizations stayed flat Wednesday, and the rate of positive tests for the virus that causes COVID-19 dropped slightly after trending upward recently.

Out of 12,600 test results reported Wednesday, 540 were positive, or 4.3%. That's the lowest rate in a week.

Over the past seven days, when new cases have averaged nearly 500, the percentage of positive tests for the coronavirus has been 5.1%. It was 3.6% in the seven days before that, and 2.7% in the seven days before that.

Five percent is still a far cry from late April and early May, when testing was limited and positivity regularly hit double-digits.

Wednesday's new cases bring the state's total to 29,199.

Dane County bars limit service as Milwaukee restaurants, bars expand capacity

Dane County's new order closes indoor service in bars beginning Thursday and limits the number of people who may eat inside restaurants to 25% capacity. Under the order, bars may keep their patios open if they have them.

"For the past week, Dane County has seen a sustained, high number of cases. After consultation with our contact tracing team, gatherings and visits to bars and restaurants continue to be implicated in interviews with cases,” Janel Heinrich, director of Public Health Madison & Dane County, said in a statement.

County health officials said since June 13, 614 people tested positive for coronavirus and half of them were between the ages of 18 and 29. 

Multiple cases of the virus have been linked to businesses near the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus, local health officials said Wednesday.

Dane County's new limits on its bars come the same day Milwaukee increased capacity to 50%. 

Mike Vitucci, who owns five entertainment establishments in Milwaukee, said moving from 25% capacity to 50% "is just business as usual" — but encouraging happy hour or late-night drinkers to keep their distance is trickier.

Staff at his businesses — Izzy Hops, The Belmont, Murphy's Irish Pub, Caffrey's and Uncle Buck's — wear masks and do their best to ask patrons if they would mind keeping a space between them.

At Uncle Buck's, there is security checking occupancy on each floor.

But bar patrons are "mobile," he said.

Two of his bars cater to the Marquette University crowd, and he wonders how you convince people not to hug when they haven't seen each other in months.

"What do you say? 'No hugging'?"

Racine ordinance tossed out

The City of Racine is left with no plan to combat the pandemic just as cases surge statewide. 

Racine County Circuit Judge Jon Fredrickson found that the city's ordinance not only violated the state constitution but also was so broadly written that ordinary citizens couldn't understand it. 

"It is likely the strictest, and most over-arching COVID-19 order or ordinance in the country," he wrote. "This court finds that no average person of ordinary intelligence can make sense of its sprawling breadth."

The city immediately appealed the decision and Racine Mayor Cory Mason dubbed Fredrickson a "right-wing-activist judge."

"Twenty-five city residents have died from this virus (and) I hope no one else will die because of Judge Fredrickson’s judicial activism,” Mason said in a statement.

It was the latest in a series of decisions by Fredrickson against the city and its public health administrator. The lawsuit was brought by the owner of a CrossFit gym who said the rules threatened his business.

Fredrickson, who was appointed to the bench in 2018 by then-Gov. Scott Walker, wrote that he was particularly troubled by the city's policy for mass gatherings. That policy "abridges the rights of the citizens of Racine, and anyone visiting, to peaceably assemble, consult for the common good, or to petition the government" as guaranteed in the state constitution, he wrote. 

14 additional counties showing 'high' coronavirus activity

Two more deaths were announced Wednesday, bringing the state total to 786.

There were 237 known COVID-19 patients in Wisconsin hospitals and another 147 inpatients awaiting test results as of Wednesday. Both numbers were down slightly from Tuesday's level and haven't risen along with upturns in confirmed cases and test positivity.

Steady levels of hospitalizations and deaths can be partly explained by the increased prevalence of the disease among 20-somethings, who are less likely than older age groups to be hospitalized (3% compared with 12% overall) or die (1% compared with 3% overall).

But 20-somethings accounted for a lower percentage of Wednesday's new positives than in recent days. Only a third of Wednesday's new cases (180) were in that age group, down from 42% (251) on Wednesday.

The state health department also updated its weekly activity ratings for Wisconsin and its counties on Wednesday. The overall rating for Wisconsin — based on a combination of total new cases per 100,000 people over the past two weeks and percentage change — remained "high" for a second week.

An additional 14 counties are now showing "high" disease activity, the state said.

The most new cases per 100,000 residents were in La Crosse, where there were 260. Next came Milwaukee (190), Lafayette (180), Dane (180) and Brown (160).

County ratings as of Wednesday were as follows (change in activity level from last week in parentheses):

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

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