County Reports 8th COVID Death, 173 Cases this Week

By Myles Dannhausen Jr. , Peninsula Pulse – October 31st, 2020

A Door County Medical Center sign. File photo.

The toll of Covid-19 on the Door County Peninsula continues to grow.

On Friday Door County reported 25 new cases, it’s 8th COVID-related death, and 339 active cases as public health officials say the COVID-19 virus is rampant on the peninsula. The county reported 173 cases and 4 deaths over the last week, the worst week of the pandemic in the area.

Door County Medical Center CEO Brian Stephens said the severity of the spread makes the situation precarious at a time when hospitals are full and staff is tight.

“We’re not unlike any other business in Door County when it comes to dealing with the virus among our staff,” Stephens said. When staff members test positive for COVID-19 or have to quarantine due to exposure, the hospital has to cut back on the services it can perform.

The virus has spread aggressively in all parts of Door County, with 262 cases in Southern Door, 266 in the City of Sturgeon Bay and surrounding area, and 288 in Northern Door and Washington Island. It is also now present in multiple long-term care facilities on the peninsula.

Brian Stephens, president and CEO of Door County Medical Center in Sturgeon Bay, photographed on Aug. 5, 2020. Door County Medical Center is a 25-bed critical access hospital serving 30,000 people across Door and northern Kewaunee counties. Photo by Coburn Dukehart for Wisconsin Watch.

In the northeastern Wisconsin region 83 percent of hospital beds and 85 percent of ICU beds were occupied as of Friday afternoon. Wisconsin reported another 5,096 positive COVID-19 tests Friday, 142 new hospitalizations, and 24 new deaths.

The dramatic rise in active cases in Door County is owed in part to a change in the way active cases are defined. A case is considered active if the person is less than 30 days from the date of symptom onset.

The county is now also listing probable cases in its daily report. These cases are not included in the overall case count. As of Friday, the county listed 70 probable cases. These are people who were not positive by a confirmed laboratory test but have either tested positive using an antigen test method, or have symptoms of COVID-19 and known exposure to the virus.

More information to help you understand the county’s reporting data can be found here>>