MILWAUKEE – More than 4,500 new cases of COVID-19 in Wisconsin were announced on Tuesday, but Health Services Secretary Designee Andrea Palm says that number can be misleading.
“This count reflects some of the backlog in positive cases that accumulated as the Wisconsin Electronic Disease Surveillance System underwent a routine upgrade and enhancement over the weekend,” Palm said during a media briefing on Tuesday.
In total, there were 4,591 new cases of COVID-19 announced.
Palm says the best way to get an idea of how wide-spread the virus is in Wisconsin is to look at the seven-day average for daily new infections. However, Palm says those numbers aren’t looking great either.
“Our seven-day average of new daily cases stands at 3,287. One month ago, our seven day average was 1,720 and two months ago it was 747,” Palm said.
The numbers reflect an alarming trend showing that COVID-19 is still spreading quickly across most parts of the state, according to Palm.
“43% of our total cases here in Wisconsin have come in the last month. 62% within the past two months,” Palm said.
There were also 33 new COVID-19 related deaths announced on Tuesday, putting that total number in Wisconsin at 1,633.
218 new hospitalizations were also announced on Tuesday.
“It’s important to understand that we’re in a much worse place now than we were in March and April,” Palm said.