Wisconsin announces just 140 new cases of the coronavirus, the lowest increase since April

USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin

Newly confirmed cases of the coronavirus reached the lowest point in more than a month Monday, though tests also fell precipitously from record heights late last week.

State health officials announced just 140 new cases of the virus Monday out of 3,632 tests. The number of new cases hasn't been that low since April 21.

It's a far cry from Friday's update, when there were 733 positives in 13,602 test results.

And after 71 deaths announced over four days between Wednesday and Saturday, there were just four announced Sunday and three Monday. Total, there have been 18,543 confirmed cases and 595 deaths in Wisconsin since the start of the pandemic.

The Department of Health Services has noted that newly announced cases reflect when cases were reported to public health and don't necessarily correspond to the onset of symptoms, or diagnosis. Newly announced deaths, likewise, may lag actual dates of death.

Case totals may reflect those reporting lag times earlier in the week, after weekends. Since May 10, new cases announced on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday have averaged 243, compared to an average of 495 on the other four days of the week.

Still, Monday's percent of new tests that were positive was 3.9%, up slightly from Sunday's record low of 2.3% but continuing an encouraging overall downward trend in that measure, a key metric tracked by epidemiologists.

A month earlier, on May 1, it was 12.7%.

Daily Digest: What you need to know about coronavirus in Wisconsin

The Wisconsin Hospital Association reported 403 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 as of Monday morning, with 136 in intensive care. Another 209 inpatients were awaiting test results.

U.S. confirmed cases of the coronavirus accounted for about 1.8 million of 6.2 million worldwide as of mid-Monday, according to a Johns Hopkins University online dashboard. Deaths approached 105,000 in the U.S. and 370,000 globally.

On Monday, the total number of cases in each Wisconsin county stood as follows. Note that these numbers are frozen once daily by the Department of Health Services and may not match local case counts.

7,799 in Milwaukee County
2,320 in Brown County
1,733 in Racine County
1,178 in Kenosha County
735 in Dane County
709 in Waukesha County
639 in Rock County
397 in Walworth County
257 in Washington County
249 in Winnebago County
230 in Outagamie County
228 in Dodge County
214 in Fond du Lac County
165 in Ozaukee County
113 in Eau Claire County
107 in Jefferson County
96 in Grant County
92 in St. Croix County
90 in Sheboygan County
78 in Sauk County
77 in Calumet County
66 in Green County
56 in Chippewa County
53 in La Crosse County
50 in Marathon County
48 in Shawano County
45 in Pierce County
44 in Columbia County
42 in Waupaca County
38 in Door County
37 in Oconto County
36 in Manitowoc County
35 in Kewaunee County
33 in Clark and Marinette counties
29 in Forest County
27 in Lafayette County
26 in Crawford County
25 in Trempealeau County
24 in Dunn County
23 in Juneau County
21 in Vernon County
20 in Barron and Green Lake counties
19 in Douglas and Polk counties
17 in Jackson and Monroe counties
16 in Iowa County
14 in Richland County
12 in Portage County
10 in Wood County
9 in Oneida County
8 in Sawyer, Vilas and Waushara counties
7 in Lincoln County
6 in Buffalo County
5 in Rusk County
4 in Adams and Marquette counties
3 in Bayfield, Langlade and Menominee counties
2 in Ashland, Florence, Iron, Price, Taylor and Washburn counties
1 in Burnett and Pepin counties

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