Health officials report 89 new COVID-19 investigations in past week

The number of public health investigations related to COVID-19 considered active by the Department of Health Services increased from last week.

There were 547 active public health investigations as of Wednesday, a jump of 89 from the prior week.

Investigations are considered active until 28 days have passed since the last possible exposure to COVID-19 in a facility without any cases.

There were 45 more investigations at non-healthcare workplaces, 23 more at long-term care facilities and 18 more in other settings, like daycares, restaurants, event spaces and religious settings. One additional investigation was launched at a group housing facility and two at healthcare facilities.

Facility-wide investigations can be triggered by a single case at a long-term care facility or by two or more cases in a different setting.

As of Wednesday, there were 255 investigations at non-healthcare workplaces, 193 at long-term care facilities, 41 at group housing facilities, 17 at healthcare facilities and 41 in other settings.

So far, there have been a cumulative 253 investigations at long-term care facilities. According to DHS, 110 facilities have had a single confirmed case and 172 have had less than five.

The median is two, the average is eight, and the range is one to 86 confirmed cases.

There are 67 active investigations at nursing homes, out of a total of 96 investigations.

There were 21,593 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Wisconsin as of Wednesday, an increase of 285 from Tuesday. There were 357,112 negative tests, an increase of 9,902.

So far, 671 have died from the illness in Wisconsin, an increase of 10 from Tuesday.

The Wisconsin Hospital Association also added trend information on the percent of positive cases per total tests and the use of ventilators, as well as more testing information, to its COVID-19 dashboard.

As of Thursday, 74 percent of the state’s 1,263 ventilators were available.

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