Wiconsin COVID breaks out to new levels, and gets worse in new places

Needless to say, it was a bad week for Wisconsin with the COVID pandemic. To the point that we will likely exceed 100,000 total infections today, and we are now in the US's top 5 in a very bad way.

Corrected:

Top ten state reports of new cases of COVID-19 per 1M/pop., 9/18:

1. North Dakota 495
2. South Dakota 417
3. Wisconsin 392
4. Arkansas 357
5. Utah 336
6. Oklahoma 313
7. Iowa 312
8. Montana 273
9. Alabama 265
10. Mississippi 220https://t.co/dBr3uPg4nS

— David Waldman-1, of Yorktown LLC™ (@KagroX) September 20, 2020

The common thread of these 10 states? All voted for Donald Trump and have GOP-run Legislatures. I'm sure it's just a coincidence.

I said a couple of weeks ago that we3'd find out if the higher numbers that came with a new school year would be a blip or the start of a new level of infections for the state. In mid-September, the trends are not promising, as new cases have more than doubled in the last 2 weeks, and the rate of positive tests keeps going up.

If there's any positive news from this, it's that the number of individual Wisconsinites being tested rose for the first time in several weeks, and deaths are at at their lowest in nearly 2 months.

But there are a couple of trends that are worrying on the severity front. Yes, most of the jump in new cases in Wisconsin are from people aged 18-24. But we're also starting to see older age ranges have a bump up in infections over the last couple of weeks, and those people are more likely to suffer more severe health issues from COVID.

And we are starting to see that translate into big jumps in hospitalizations in the 920 and 715 area codes.

On a related note, did we mention that President Trump had a rally in an airport hangar in North Central Wisconsin last week?

Wisconsin's mask mandate mostly ignored at @WisGOP events as Covid cases surge. https://t.co/R3pwzXbRJs

— Mike (@half_witt) September 20, 2020

I'm sure all these people will be around in 6 weeks with no difficulties so they can get out and vote in person like a "real 'Merican." SUCKERS!

But hey, we got football coming back at the pro and college levels. So, according to Assembly Speaker Robbin' Vos, things are getting back to normal with nothing to worry about! Enjoy your tailgating at the bars around Lambeau today, and don't worry about what might happen in the county with the highest rate of COVID infections in the state!