Wisconsin tallies record number of active cases, hospitalizations following DHS system upgrade

WISCONSIN — Following some system updates over the weekend, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services reported a record number of active COVID-19 cases and a record number of patients in the hospital because of the virus.

DHS on Monday reported35,345 active cases in Wisconsin - 21,000 more than one month ago. Just over 1,100 people are in the hospital because of coronavirus, which is three times the number of hospitalizations just one month ago. That's 222 hospitalizations in the last week, according to DHS numbers.

The jump, however, was not a surprise, as the daily totals account for more than just in the last 24 hours, because of the system update.

At least 126 people have died from the virus in the last week, DHS reports, raising the death toll to 1,600 in Wisconsin since the pandemic began.

At least 136,900 people have recovered from the virus.

DHS says the updates it installed over the weekend will improve online tools for contact tracing, automate data entry, enhanced security and "strengthen the system to accommodate any case increases."

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Wisconsin has become the hot spot for coronavirus in the country, with the reportedly highest number of hospitalizations as of Monday. Some blame the spike on the start of the fall school season, others blaming lax rules and enforcement for social distancing, sanitization, mask usage and other methods of keeping coronavirus cases down.

Also on Monday, a Wisconsin judge decided to effectively 'unblock' capacity limits in Gov. Tony Evers' most recent COVID-19 order. A 25 percent capacity limit is now back in effect in public spaces in Wisconsin, unless a municipality has a local COVID-19 order deemed more strict, such as in the City of Milwaukee.

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