Milwaukee suburbs seeing rapid increase in COVID-19 cases

If we’ve learned anything from this year’s new coronavirus pandemic so far in Wisconsin, it’s that the virus is unpredictable.

Initially, hospitals did not have enough evidence available to meet the needs of many communities, leaving many cases undocumented. That left an incomplete picture of the virus’s spread from the start.

People stayed home to “flatten the curve” for almost nine weeks, which seemed to be working well. The virus began to appear to be under control. Later, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that Governor Evers’ “Safer at Home” order was unconstitutional in mid-May, effectively removing any power the state had without expressly giving any control to municipalities to establish their own rules. and regulations. The state became a mosaic of different rules.

New cases and deaths peaked in late May and are on the rise again.

Milwaukee County is one of the counties in the state that has experienced a resurgence since late June.

For the first time, cases in suburban Milwaukee County are starting to grow as fast as cases in the city of Milwaukee.

Compare the heat map above for total cases per 1,000 people for the last week (July 15-21) with the heat map below that runs from early March to now. The scale of the heatmap has changed between the maps, but more importantly, you can see more prominent hotspots in Franklin, Glendale, West Milwaukee, South Milwaukee, Cudahy, and St. Francis in the past week.

In the past few weeks, the suburbs have seen a more pronounced increase in new cases. At the end of June, suburban municipalities averaged about 25 new cases per day. In the past week, that has increased to almost 100 new cases per day.

Although the graph shows a decrease from July 20 to 22, that more reflects the data that is still being finalized.

It is important to note that the positive impact of the mask mandate, which has been in place for only one week in Milwaukee, may not show up in the data for another week.

Darren Rausch, the Greenfield Health Department Public Health Officer, explained at a press conference Thursday afternoon that it will be difficult to see what impact the mask’s mandate has on future infections due to all the variables involved. And even if there is a positive impact, it probably won’t be noticed until next week.

Currently, municipalities within Milwaukee County with a mask mandate are: Milwaukee, Glendale, Shorewood, and Whitefish Bay.