MHD: 3 COVID-19 gating criteria remain 'green' for 3rd straight week

Milwaukee City Hall

The Milwaukee Health Department (MHD) released on Friday, March 5 an update on the public health and safety order "Moving Milwaukee Forward" related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Order 4.4 features five total criteria: cases, testing, care, safety (PPE) and tracing. Each gating criteria can be assigned a status of GREEN, YELLOW or RED -- red being the most severe. 

Over the past week, the Milwaukee Health Department did not report any gating criteria changes but did report a decline in COVID-19 positivity -- which remained in the GREEN.

MHD reported an average of 3% positive based on an average of 1,907 tests per day. That is down from 3.4% positive based on an average of 1,962 tests per day the previous week. It is the 13th consecutive MHD report to show declining positivity, having reached as high as 19.1% in early November.

The care and cases criteria remained GREEN, while the other safety and tracing criteria remained in the YELLOW.

"There are two important ways to keep the COVID-19 trends headed in the right direction; we need to continue taking precautions – masking, distancing, and avoiding groups – that limit the spread. At the same time, we are working to get as many eligible people vaccinated as possible," Milwaukee Health Commissioner Kirsten Johnson said. "We’ve made good progress, and we can all take steps to continue that."

MHD will continue to monitor the situation and determine if additional protective measures are necessary to reduce the spread of COVID-19.  

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