Positive virus cases nearly double from 7.8% to 12.2%, according to city officials

The number of coronavirus cases in Milwaukee had been trending in the right direction until this week when the positivity rate nearly doubled, according to city officials. 

Ahead of the holiday weekend, the Milwaukee Health Department said Friday it has been monitoring the city's response to the pandemic with a color system and has determined the impact of the virus went from "yellow" to "red" or, from a 7.8% positivity rate to 12.2%.

The city plans to reassess its situation with cases on July 17.

One area of improvement has been the percentage of coronavirus patients in hospitals, which has been in the "green" for the last two weeks. According to the city, hospitals in the greater Milwaukee area are not in crisis and the hospitalization rate is about 5%.

Area hospitals have enough personal protective equipment for staff to last between eight and 28 days, which is in the "yellow" and has remained steady since last week. 

The rest of the indicators are marked as "yellow." The average number of daily tests at Barack Obama High School and UMOS has gone from 928 to 1,682. 

In regard to contact tracing, the health department says it has been able to successfully reach city residents within three attempts and the average time to make the first contact attempt is 1.4 days.