Wisconsin COVID 19 Update

The Wisconsin Department of Corrections has released nearly 1600 inmates since March in response to the COVID 19 pandemic. Most of the inmates released from March 2nd to May 4th were detained because they violated terms of their probation, parole or extended supervision and most were being held in a county jail or secure detention facility. In total 1,572 inmates were released since March but the DOC houses more than 22 thousand adult prisoners with 20 prisoners across 4 DOC facilities have testing positive for COVID 19 and 24 employees have tested positive as of last Thursday. The number of positive tests went above 10 thousand over the weekend as the DHS is reporting 10,229 people have tested positive for COVID 19 with 1,820 needing hospitalization and over 105 thousand testing negative. The death total stands at 401 in Wisconsin with 5,014 having recovered from the virus. Rock county reported 354 cases with 13 deaths, Walworth county reported 249 positive tests with 10 deaths and Jefferson County reported 50 positive cases and they had their first 2 deaths over the weekend. Since the start of May there’s been a generally trending downward trend in positive tests but DHS officials say they have not seen a 14 day downward trend that is needed for the state to reopen. Only 2 of the six criteria have been met for Gov Evers Badger Bounce Back Program and that state now has the capacity to conduct 13,800 tests per day. For more information about COVID 19 visit dhs.wisconsin.gov.