MHD: Weekly COVID-19 postivity rises for 1st time in 2021
Milwaukee City Hall
MILWAUKEE - The Milwaukee Health Department (MHD) released on Friday, March 12 an update on the public health and safety order "Moving Milwaukee Forward" related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Order 4.4 features five total criteria: cases, testing, care, safety (PPE) and tracing. Each gating criteria can be assigned a status of GREEN, YELLOW or RED -- red being the most severe.
Over the past week, the Milwaukee Health Department did not report any gating criteria changes but did report a slight increase in COVID-19 positivity -- which remained in the GREEN.
MHD reported an average of 3.3% positive based on an average of 1,745 tests per day. That is up from 3% positive based on an average of 1,907 tests per day the previous week. It was the first time in 2021 that the health department reported increased positivity; 13 consecutive MHD COVID-19 updates had reported declining positivity, which had reached as high as 19.1% in early November 2020.
The care and cases criteria remained GREEN, while the other safety and tracing criteria remained in the YELLOW.
"We are both hopeful and cautious about the current trends in the pandemic," Milwaukee Health Commissioner Kirsten Johnson said. "As more people are vaccinated and the number of new COVID-19 cases is lower than at other times during the pandemic, we have the opportunity to look at adjustments to the current public health restriction."
Johnson reiterated the importance of wearing masks, physically distancing and avoiding gatherings.
MHD will continue to monitor the situation and determine if additional protective measures are necessary to reduce the spread of COVID-19.
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