KEWAUNEE – Positive test results among Kewaunee County residents for the COVID-19 virus continue to inch up at a rate below the state average.

The Kewaunee County Public Health Department reported it now has a total of 37 positive tests for the virus with 1,138 negative and 46 pending from when testing started in March to Tuesday afternoon, June 9. 

The county has seen its total of positive results increase by two each week for the past four weeks, even though almost 800 test results have been recorded in that time.

The report a week prior, June 2, said the county had 35 positives and 981 negatives, so the June 9 numbers show two new positives from 159 tests during the preceding week, meaning 1.3% of the tests coming back that week were positive. The week from May 26 to June 2 saw two new positives reported from 272 results, or 0.7%. The percentage of positive tests reported across Wisconsin each day since May 31 has been between 2% and 4%.

In early May, the rate of positive results since testing began was 9.1% in the county, fractionally less than the state percentage at the time. Now, the rate of positive results in the county is 3.1% overall. As of Wednesday, the state has 21,593 positives (671 deaths) out of more than 378,000 results, or 5.7% since testing began.

Of the county's 37 positive cases, 33 have been cleared and three are active, with one death in April, according to a report from the health department. None of the active cases are hospitalized as of Tuesday.

The report also shows the majority of positive results are found in younger and middle-age residents. Twelve of the 37 cases struck people ages 31 to 49, 10 in ages 18 to 30. Nine positives are among those ages 50 to 65, and three each were found in ages 66 and older and 17 and younger.

In neighboring counties, 39 cases of the virus have been reported in Door County, 40 in Manitowoc. Brown County remains the county with the second-most cases in the state, at 2,405 as of Wednesday.

Contact Christopher Clough at 920-741-7952, 920-562-8900 or [email protected].

This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Kewaunee County COVID-19 update: Positive test results inch up at slower rate than state