Wisconsin sees 539 new coronavirus cases, the most since late May, as percent of positive tests rise

[riversedge]

Source: Postcrescent





Wisconsin sees 539 new coronavirus cases, the most since late May, as percent of positive tests rises again

Natalie Brophy, USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin Published 2:40 p.m. CT June 27, 2020


Wisconsin health officials reported 539 new cases of coronavirus Saturday, the highest number of cases reported since May 29.

Those 539 positive cases accounted for 5.9% of the 9,904 tests processed since Friday, according to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services. As of Saturday, 27,286 Wisconsinites had tested positive for COVID-19.

The state health department also reported 11 more people died from the virus. The state's total number of deaths stood at 777.

Saturday's percent of positive cases is the highest since May 23. The percent of positive cases had been relatively flat until it ticked upward about a week ago.

Read more: https://www.postcrescent.com/story/news/2020/06/27/wisconsin-coronavirus-covid-19-cases-reach-highest-one-day-total-since-may/3270014001/

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oh oh. A whole of a downward trend and now WI is on the rise.
Nothing like Florida but this upward trend is not good!

[htuttle]

1. I'm thinking that there's a 50% chance that UW will change their mind on bringing students back

Since I haven't heard that they're going to make the entire student body quarantine the first 14 days in town (and doubt that they could enforce that), I'm not looking forward to having people arrive from every hot spot in the county in late August.

[NickB79]

2. We're just across the border in MN

We just dropped $200 today to refill the pantry and toilet paper reserves. Over the coming week we're going to inventory and restock the chest freezer and get more feed for our livestock.

I don't see how we avoid a new spike here given Iowa and now Wisconsin surging.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. They re-opened the bars. What did they think would happen?

[progree]

4. And MN too, just a little later: June 1 patio service; June 10 - indoor service (50% capacity)

But so far MN doing quite well lately, but will take awhile for the mid-late-June infections to show

https://www.health.state.mn.us/diseases/coronavirus/situation.html

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/minnesota-coronavirus-cases.html

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

5. There was a small spike last week traced to three bars:

Two near the U's Minneapolis campus and one in Mankato, also near the college. Duh. So far they haven't seen any spikes attributable to the protests, though, probably because everybody was outside and most were wearing masks - unlike the bars.

[progree]

6. Yup. Kollege Klub alone in Dinkytown linked to 22 cases

https://www.mprnews.org/story/2020/06/26/latest-on-covid19-in-mn

https://www.startribune.com/mankato-bar-owner-defends-efforts-to-avoid-spread-of-covid-19/571524162/

Defenders say bars in Minnesota are trying to halt COVID-19, Star Tribune, 930p 6/27/20
... The 507 [in Mankato] was one of four Minnesota bars — two in Mankato and two in Minneapolis — where clusters of coronavirus infections in young adults have recently turned up, the Minnesota Department of Health said Friday. The others were Rounders Sports Bar & Grill in Mankato and Cowboy Jack's [downtown Minneapolis] and the Kollege Klub [Dinkytown], both in Minneapolis.

After Midnight Group, which owns Cowboy Jack's downtown, said Saturday that it's indefinitely closing that bar and Cowboy Slim's in Uptown due to what it described as "violence, vandalism and civil unrest" in their surrounding neighborhoods. It did not make reference to any COVID-19 health concerns.

[On Saturday] "It's [Minnesota Department of Health] been extremely vague on how we're supposed to proceed," Wegman [owner of the 507] said. "I personally don't know what more we can do other than close to stop the spread."

... The Health Department said more than 30 cases had been identified among people who went to Cowboy Jack's in Minneapolis and the Kollege Klub in Dinkytown between June 14 and June 21.

And roughly 100 people who visited the 507 and/or Rounders Sports Bar & Grill the weekend of June 12-14 were infected. On Saturday, Ehresmann said there were 39 cases associated with the 507, including 32 cases where infected people also visited Rounders.

https://www.mndaily.com/article/2020/06/dinkytowns-kollege-klub-linked-to-new-covid-19-cases

Dinkytown's Kollege Klub linked to 22 new COVID-19 cases, Minnesota Daily, 6/26/20
Some social media users (

Link to tweet

) have criticized the recent overcrowding of Kollege Klub since the state eased restrictions on bars. Other posts showed lines of customers wrapping around the building waiting to get inside.

May the spikes be small, few and far between

(they won't be)

[DVDGuy]

7. Positive rate

Anything above a 2% positive rate is too high based on what we know from other countries. Too high as in infections are rising and/or not enough testing.

Here in Australia, for example, the positive test rate is 0.3% with over 2.3 million tests conducted so far (out of a population of 25 million). To put this into perspective, we have 3 million fewer people than Texas, but have conducted 400,000 more tests. And we actually don't need as much testing because we only have 7,641 cases compared to 148,845 cases in Texas.

Testing is free and open to anyone who wants one (even if you don't have symptoms).

Our conservative government was slow to act in the beginning, played politics and made some major mistakes (allowing a cruise ship to dock without any quarantine, for example), but they've since improved (forced to do so by the state governments) and are now enjoying record popularity.

If Trump wasn't so incompetent, he could easily have come out of this crisis in an unassailable position.