Dane Co. records over 700 more COVID-19 cases

MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) - Total COVID-19 cases in Dane Co. shot up significantly Tuesday morning after the health officials added hundreds of new cases to the county’s coronavirus dashboard.

According to Public Health Madison & Dane Co., it added 710 more cases to the daily report. The figure is spread over multiple days, with the day-to-day jump since Monday shown as 219 new cases. A PHMDC spokesperson explained the county only receives about half the positive tests within 24 hours. Any ones that come after that period are added for the day of the test as opposed to the day it was received.

Health officials also pointed to Friday when the county set a new all-time high with 522 new cases. In all, the flood of new cases pushes the total of people who have ever tested positive in the state to 19,409 – and with the county averaging more nearly 400 cases per day, it is expected to top 20,000 overall cases by the end of the week.

For reference, when Dane Co. set up its standards for the Forward Dane initiative it set the goal of four cases per day over a 14-day period. The county has exceeded that by almost 10,000 percent.

Another person in Dane Co. died from complications related to coronavirus as well, according to PHMDC. The agency has now recorded 56 COVID-19-related deaths.

Hospitalizations reached a new high after one more person was admitted in the past day, PHMDC noted.

In all, more than 600 have been hospitalized since the pandemic began, a record-high 156 are still admitted, health officials stated. They added that there are few ICU beds left in Dane Co.

They went on to urge everyone to continue wearing masks, avoid confined spaces with little ventilation, and avoid close contact.