More than 800 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed as 46 more hospitalized

MADISON, Wis. – Wisconsin health officials confirmed hundreds of new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday.

With an additional 826 * cases, the state has reached a lifetime total of 51,238. The number of positive tests has not seen a drastic difference in the daily results, as it peaked at 805 new cases on Tuesday. Of the 14,694 that were evaluated the previous day, the percentage of new tests that tested positive rose slightly to 5.9%.

The average number of new cases has remained high relative to the first months of the pandemic, as Wisconsin passed the 50,000 mark on Tuesday. That number was barely 30,000 in early July.

The state Department of Health Services said 9,704, or about 19% of people, still have the virus.

A total of 915 have died from COVID-19, with four more deaths confirmed on Wednesday. That represents approximately 1.8% of all positive cases. DHS said there were 46 new hospitalizations and about 2,400 hospital beds are still available statewide.

As of Wednesday afternoon, DHS data shows that 61 of the 72 Wisconsin counties have high levels of activity for the spread of the disease.

The pandemic has led major retailers to issue masking mandates in their stores, but some companies are now looking into the holiday season in terms of the changes that can be made. Kohl’s is the latest to announce that its stores will be closed on Thanksgiving Day.

“The holiday season is when Kohl’s shines the brightest and as we move through this unusual holiday season this year, we are tailoring our plans in response to changing customer expectations and behaviors,” said Michelle Gass, CEO from Kohl.

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* News 3 Now uses data from DHS and county dashboards to calculate daily cases and deaths. DHS publishes new numbers daily at 2 pm, and our newsroom continues to update our totals throughout the day with additional cases that individual counties report. Using a combination of state and county data, News 3 Now is dedicated to providing the most complete and up-to-date COVID-19 coverage.