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Wisconsin Seeing a Summer Uptick in COVID-19 Cases

Sunday, June 30th, 2024 -- 11:00 AM

(Maia Pandey, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) Most of the country, including Wisconsin, is seeing a summer uptick in COVID-19 cases, but experts say the numbers are not yet a cause for concern and consistent with seasonal fluctuations in the virus.

According to Maia Pandey with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, as of June 18, the number of infections was growing or likely growing in 39 states and territories, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC estimates there is about a 95% chance case numbers are growing in Wisconsin. No states are seeing cases decline. The increase in cases also comes as a new strain of the virus becomes the most dominant in the country: the KP.3 variant accounted for 33.1% of cases as of June 22, up from 25.9% in early June, according to the CDC.

The variant outpaced JN.1 as the most dominant in May and has been on the rise since. Both the CDC and Wisconsin Department of Health Services no longer track individual COVID cases, but rather estimate transmission based on emergency department visits and hospitalizations or wastewater testing.

In Wisconsin, the number of hospitalizations due to COVID went up 14% between June 9 and June 22. More specifically, hospitalizations are climbing in northeast, north central, western and south central regions of the state, according to DHS.

The north central region saw the highest increase, with COVID hospitalizations rising 43% in June. The southeast region, which includes Milwaukee, saw no significant change in COVID hospitalizations throughout June.

As of June 22, wastewater testing across the state also shows a slight uptick in levels of COVID detected, with seven of the collection sites reporting a “significant increase.”

But take these numbers with a grain of salt: the levels of detected virus are still far below the highs detected in 2021 and 2022, and virus levels have been decreasing overall since January.

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