Wisconsin Coronavirus Cases Rise to 155

COVID-19 cases now found in 21 counties. Cases up 46 percent from Wednesday.

Note: This story has been updated by a new story HERE.

The number of individuals testing positive with COVID-19 in Wisconsin is now 155 and climbing. 

[Editor’s Update: Minutes after the daily update from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services was published, UpNorthNews was able to confirm Chippewa County’s first positive COVID-19 case. That case will first be included in the daily statewide number on Friday and give Wisconsin its 22nd county with a positive case.]

The state Department of Health Services updated the numbers Thursday afternoon, confirming an increase of 46 percent, or 49 cases, from Wednesday. The number of people who have tested negative for the coronavirus is 2,192. 

Prior to Thursday, community spread was occurring in Milwaukee, Dane and Kenosha counties. It is now occurring in Brown County as well. Community spread indicates individuals are catching and testing positive for the virus without knowingly having any prior contact with someone else who traveled to high-risk areas or otherwise tested positive. 

As the number of cases continues to climb, so does its reach across the state with at least one infected person in 21 of the state’s 72 counties. Patients can now be found in counties along the eastern stretch of the state, in the western portion of the state in Eau Claire, Pierce and La Crosse Counties and one of the state’s northernmost areas, Bayfield County.

One of the latest confirmed cases was of a doctor at the Waupun Correctional Institute, a maximum security prison that houses more than 1,200 inmates.

Waupun Correctional Institution Warden Brian Foster sent an email Wednesday night informing employees that a worker had contracted the virus. The email was first obtained by WisPolitics.com. The Department of Corrections did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.

The highest concentration of positive patients continues to be Milwaukee County with 62, Dane County with 27 and Fond du Lac with 14. 

By county: Milwaukee 62, Dane 27, Fond du Lac 14, Waukesha 12, Sheboygan 6, Winnebago 5, Kenosha and Columbia 4 each; Racine and Ozaukee 3 each; Brown, La Crosse, Walworth and Washington 2 each; and one each in Bayfield, Calumet, Eau Claire, Outagamie, Pierce, Sauk and Wood.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.