Despite the statewide mask mandate going into effect back on August 1st, more people have contracted COVID-19 in Manitowoc County through in 40 days since the mandate went into effect than did the 40 days prior to it.
We took the statistics released by the Manitowoc County Health Department and determined that in the 40 days leading up to the mask mandate going into effect 227 cases were reported, which is an average of roughly 5.7 new cases per day. In the 40 days since, 341 new cases were reported, which is an average of 8.5 new cases per day.
This equates to a 56% increase.
According to Manitowoc County Emergency Services Director Travis Waack, the influx of cases is not an outbreak in a single area, but rather from people getting it at gatherings, from co-workers, or from family members.
Waack also said testing will begin to ramp up again soon. “One of our providers had throttled back on some of the pre-operative or pre-procedure testing because of a limitation in testing supplies,” Waack explained. “They are starting to do that testing again.”
Another interesting statistic we uncovered was between the start of the mask mandate and the three days over the weekend where 15 or more cases were reported each day, Manitowoc County was averaging 7.8 new cases a day. Once you add in the next 7 days, where 91 new cases were added, that average jumped to 8.5 new cases per day.