Key takeaways for the week of 9/26
- We are seeing a significant increase in COVID-19 in wastewater this week. 71% of wastewater facilities in the state are seeing high or very high levels. Even though there may be high levels of COVID in the community, as indicated by the wastewater, this does not always translate to high levels of more severe disease, which is what is captured in our emergency department data in the levels on our front page.
- The percentage of people seeking care from the emergency department for any respiratory illness related reason is low and stable. However, visits among people ages 0-4 and 5-17 have been increasing in recent weeks and are at the highest levels seen since the spring.
- Based on emergency department data, the level of flu, COVID, and RSV activity is also low.
- Our lab testing trends page will not be updated for the next two weeks as the National Respiratory and Enteric Virus Surveillance System is undergoing scheduled maintenance. We expect to return to regular updates on October 10.
- You can now order free COVID tests from the U.S. government.
Dashboard Update Schedule
This dashboard is updated on Thursdays at 12:30 pm. If the dashboard is not updated then, we may be experiencing technical issues; check back at 4:30 pm. If we experience a delay in receiving data from one of our data sources, that data element will be updated the following week.
About These Data
Learn more about these data by reading our data notes
How to Prevent Illness
Other Data
Wastewater Data
This dashboard from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services shows the levels of COVID in wastewater across the state. To see the most up-to-date data for Madison, click on "Madison" in the left column.
