The vast majority of counties in Wisconsin now have ‘extremely high’ COVID-19 activity levels

MADISON, Wisconsin – The Wisconsin Department of Health Services has added a “critical” category on its disease activity dashboard to indicate “alarming” COVID-19 activity counties statewide.

DHS officials said the new category is nearly three times higher than “very high.” The state and 65 of 72 counties are currently classified as “very high.”

“Far too many of our communities are in dire straits,” said Julie Willems Van Dijk, deputy secretary of DHS. “To put this new data into perspective, Wisconsin is now recording more average cases per day than New York City at the peak of its push last spring. Due to these extremely high disease levels, public health can no longer adequately contact the traces, hospital beds are filled with COVID-19 patients, and too many families in Wisconsin are losing loved ones due to this virus.

Counties classified as “very high” have more than 1,000 cases per 100,000 population, according to the DHS.

Three counties in southern Wisconsin, Dane, Green and Walworth, are among the seven counties with “very high” coronavirus activity.

In just one month, health officials confirmed an additional 133,725 cases of the coronavirus. That’s 46% of the state’s lifetime total. More than 1,000 Wisconsinites have died from the coronavirus since October 12.

The news comes a day after Gov. Tony Evers announced another emergency order advising Wisconsinians to stay home as much as possible, as the virus continues to spread statewide at a record rate.

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