County hits double digits for confirmed cases of COVID-19

By Patrick Lynn

The Portage Co. Health Department on Saturday announced it had been notified of a 10th confirmed case of COVID-19.

In a news release to the media Saturday afternoon, the health department said the patient “is isolated at home,” but as with previous cases, has not said where in Portage Co. the infected person was located, whether the person had a pre-existing health issue, or how they were exposed.

Five of the 10 patients with coronavirus have recovered, the news release said. There have been no fatalities in Portage Co.

COVID-19 was first confirmed in Portage Co. on March 25. Only two new positive cases were discovered during a mass-testing event held at the Ruth Gilfry building on May 11-12, during which 348 people were tested, but both were non-county residents.

Portage Co. has not seen any deaths confirmed to be the result of COVID-19, but Wood Co. last announced its first related fatality, a person in their 30s, according to the Wood Co. Health Department.

The Wisconsin Dept. of Health Services said on Saturday the state had 507 deaths related to complications caused by the virus, with nine new deaths reported on May 23.

The DHS also said on Saturday that the number of new COVID-19 cases continues to plateau, with a daily average of about 380 every day for the last week. At least 14,870 tests have come back positive in Wisconsin since testing began.

Nearly 2,300 people have been hospitalized due to COVID-19, or about 15 percent of all confirmed COVID-19 cases, DHS said. Over 179,000 tests have come back negative across the state, including 1,347
negative tests from Portage Co.