Kewaunee County COVID-19 cases rise by four, but percentage of positive tests falls

KEWAUNEE - The number of positive test results for the COVID-19 virus in Kewaunee County continues to rise at a steady pace — up four in the past week — but the percentage of positive tests declined over that span as results came in even faster.

The county's Public Health Department reported 29 positive tests as of Tuesday afternoon, up from 25 the Tuesday before, May 5. The week before had seen the number of positive tests almost double, from 13 reported on April 28.

But county residents are being tested, and their results returned to the health department, at a faster rate than before.

The county received 105 test results between April 28 and May 5 and another 109 since May 5, for a total of 384 with 74 results pending. That means 214 of the 384 results have come back in the past two weeks, more than half.

The proportion of positive results in the county for the past week was 3.6%, which brought the cumulative percentage of positives since testing started down from 9.1% to 7.5%. The statewide cumulative average of positive tests also has gradually but steadily declined from 9.3% a week ago to 8.6% as of Tuesday.

However, the number of positives per 10,000 people in Kewaunee County is 14.23, which is seventh-highest among all Wisconsin counties according to figures from the state Department of Health.

Twenty-one of the 29 positive cases are active with one hospitalization and one death, which happened April 13. All appear to be the result of community spread of the virus, Public Health Department director Cindy Kinnard said. Kinnard previously attributed the fast rise in positives at least partially to the rise in results coming back to the county.

Contact Christopher Clough at 920-741-7952, 920-562-8900 or cclough@doorcountyadvocate.com.

This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Kewaunee County COVID-19 cases rise by four, but percentage of positive tests falls