Friday marks another record-breaking day as Wisconsin tops 300,000 cases of COVID-19

WISCONSIN — It took Wisconsin seven months to tally a total of 100,000 COVID-19 cases. Thirty-six days later, the state reached a total of 200,000 cases. And on Thursday, 18 days later, Wisconsin recorded a total of 300,000 coronavirus cases since the pandemic began.

It isn't just new cases that continue to paint a grim picture of the pandemic in our state. Thelatest data from the Department of Health Services shows Wisconsin also broke the record for the seven-day average of cases Friday, at 6,442, and both metrics of percent positivity, at 36.2 percent by person and 18.8 percent by test, on Friday.

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Deaths caused by the virus also continue to spiral in the wrong direction. The DHS recorded 58 new deaths Friday, not a daily record but one that raises the death toll to a height of 2,573 deaths in the state since the pandemic began. That sets the seven-day average of deaths due to the coronavirus to 45.

All of the above metrics used to track the virus - new cases, average cases, and deaths - have on average continued to rise day after day since late September. None of the efforts enacted by the governor and his administration - since-blocked COVID-19 orders, pleas to take the virus seriously - nor the efforts by the Republican-legislature - delegating the effort against the virus to the counties - have seemed to stem the spread of the coronavirus into the fall season.

It remains to be seen if Democratic Gov. Tony Evers' stern plea earlier this week, in the form of Executive order #94, will be taken seriously by more Wisconsin residents. The governor's latest order, in the face of GOP opposition in the legislature, does not force new requirements on residents and businesses but instead asks people to stay home, avoid public gatherings, to wear a mask and other methods that have been the bedrock of fighting the virus in our country.

"Please, help #StopTheSpread," the DHS tweeted on Friday as it shared today's bleak coronavirus numbers. DHS addedthat the Alternate Care Facility at State Fair Park in West Allis is now treating 15 patients.

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