Wisconsin's new cases of coronavirus tick back up with more testing, continuing recent trend of ebbs and flows

USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin

Wisconsin's coronavirus update on Tuesday included more than twice as many new confirmed cases as Monday's 41-day low, but the percent of new tests that were positive fell slightly.

That's because the number of newly reported tests rebounded, too, up in a day from about 3,600 to more than 10,500 tests.

Of the new test results, 374 were positive — more than Sunday and Monday's increases combined (313), but just over half of last Friday's one-day increase (733).

Total cases statewide approached 19,000 in Tuesday's report, and Wisconsin deaths attributed to COVID-19 surpassed 600 for the first time.

Short-term trends in newly reported cases have been especially volatile in recent weeks, possibly reflecting lags in reporting or testing on weekends.

According to the Department of Health Services, its daily updates reflect the dates when tests were reported to public health, not necessarily the dates of diagnosis or symptom onset.

Since May 10, case increases announced on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday have averaged 254. On Wednesday through Saturday, the average has been 495. Wisconsin has reported a total of 18,917 confirmed cases since the pandemic began.

Tuesday's new positives work out to 3.6% of new tests, down from 3.9% on Monday and much lower than a month earlier, when more than one in 10 newly reported coronavirus tests were positive.

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

The state also announced 12 new deaths Tuesday, bringing the total to 607, after four were announced Sunday and three on Monday.

Newly reported deaths, as with cases, may reflect reporting delays.

Last Wednesday through Saturday marked a four-day high for deaths in the state, with 71. In the three days prior to that, the state announced 10 deaths combined.

In what has been a steadier metric than confirmed cases and deaths, hospitalizations due to COVID-19 dropped slightly Tuesday morning, according to the Wisconsin Hospital Association, to 388 patients — down from 423 on Friday. Of those COVID-19 patients hospitalized Tuesday, 139 were in intensive care. Another 209 inpatients were awaiting test results.

Worldwide there were 6.3 million confirmed cases and more than 377,000 deaths by mid-Tuesday, according to a Johns Hopkins University online dashboard. Of those, more than 1.8 million cases and 105,000 deaths were the in U.S.

On Tuesday, 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.

8,004 in Milwaukee County
2,334 in Brown County
1,762 in Racine County
1,201 in Kenosha County
759 in Dane County
722 in Waukesha County
646 in Rock County
398 in Walworth County
270 in Winnebago County
260 in Washington County
232 in Outagamie County
226 in Dodge County
215 in Fond du Lac County
165 in Ozaukee County
114 in Eau Claire County
110 in Jefferson County
96 in Grant County
95 in Sheboygan and St. Croix counties
79 in Sauk County
78 in Calumet County
68 in Green County
57 in Chippewa County
55 in La Crosse County
52 in Marathon County
50 in Shawano County
47 in Pierce County
45 in Waupaca County
44 in Columbia County
38 in Door and Oconto counties
36 in Manitowoc County
35 in Kewaunee County
33 in Clark County
32 in Marinette County
28 in Forest County
27 in Lafayette County
26 in Crawford and Trempealeau counties
24 in Dunn County
22 in Juneau and Polk counties
21 in Vernon County
20 in Barron and Green Lake counties
19 in Douglas County
18 in Monroe County
17 in Jackson County
16 in Iowa County
14 in Richland and Portage counties
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.