Update on COVID 19 Cases

After the slowest one day increase in COVID 19 cases since the Safer at Home order was put in place, the number of positive cases went up again to 3,555; with 1,049 of those cases needing to be hospitalized. There have been 37,997 negative tests and 176 deaths according to the Department of Health Services (DHS) website. According to the DHS model, Wisconsin was projected to have 22 thousand infections by April 8, which would have resulted in somewhere between 440 and 1500 deaths. Those numbers were based on projected exponential growth in positive cases, but since the Safer at Home order there has been a decrease in exponential growth in the number of cases. DHS officials said Wisconsin’s rate of doubling of infections was 3.4 days in early March and over the past two weeks the rate of doubling is now around 12 days. Gov. Evers signaled Tuesday that it may be another month before he starts relaxing social distancing mandates. The Safer at Home and school closure orders are set to expire on April 24, but he wants to make sure more testing is available and that there’s better tracking of sick people and enough personal protective gear for healthcare workers before he will consider allowing businesses to open and easing social distancing restrictions. Gov. Evers also added it’s unlikely schools will reopen, but he hasn’t made a final decision yet.