Wisconsin hit a record on Sunday. 21 percent of all COVID-19 tests done that day came back positive.
That puts Wisconsin in the top nine states in the U.S. with the highest case rate in the country.
During a news conference Tuesday, Governor Tony Evers encouraged everyone to take this virus seriously.
“We must double down on our efforts to stop the spread of COVID-19. The days and weeks ahead and as we spend more time indoors, please be extra cautious and take the necessary precautions for you and your family. I know we all want to get back to normal, but we will continue to see an increase in cases until folks decide to take this seriously,” said Gov. Evers.
Within the state, Forest County has the highest burden or case rate. Burden is based on the number of cases per 100,000 people.
Forest County currently has a burden of 544.5 as of Tuesday afternoon. The county average in Wisconsin is 191.6.
The Forest County Health Department said it’s called on tribal, regional and state partners to help with contact tracing.
WXPR asked Wisconsin Department of Health Services Secretary-Designee Andrea Palm about state support during Tuesday’s news conference on the state COVID-19 situation.
“We’re available to all of our county, all of our local health partners as they need assistance both with testing and with contact tracing,” said Palm. “It is why we brought a couple hundred folks on into state service was to provide that service to counties. I do not know off the top of my head the degree to which we are doing that right now with Forest County.”
The number of cases in Forest County have doubled in the last two weeks.
Since the start of the pandemic, 166 people from Forest County have tested positive for COVID-19.
On September 1st that number was 81.
WXPR has been reaching out to health officials in the county. We’ll continue to update this story and share what’s being done to get the COVID-19 cases in Forest County under control.
