COVID-19: Facility-Wide Public Health Investigations

Important updates regarding our data

Our goal is to provide the highest quality COVID-19 data with full transparency. In recent weeks, DHS has been able to ramp up data quality assurance efforts in the Wisconsin Electronic Disease Surveillance System (WEDSS), which includes correcting case status from "confirmed" or "probable" where appropriate, ensuring completeness of data fields, and reducing unknowns. Due to these efforts, data displayed on the website may change over time. In particular, dashboards and data tables that track cumulative cases or deaths, as well as those showing newly reported numbers each day may appear lower than expected - in some counties, substantially lower or even negative. For more information on this effort, and details on why the cases and deaths might go up or down from one day to the next, visit our Data 101 webpage.

For the most accurate picture of COVID-19 in Wisconsin, reference our data that show cases by date of onset or diagnoses and deaths by date of death.

Jump to specific COVID-19 chart on this page:

Data shown below are subject to change. As individual cases are investigated by public health, there may be corrections to the status and details of cases. Below, there is also a list of nursing homes with active COVID-19 facility-wide public health investigations in Wisconsin by county.

Understanding our data: What does this chart mean?

This dashboard shows the number of facility-wide COVID-19 public health investigations by county and Health Emergency Readiness Coalition (HERC) region. You can see the number of active and total investigations by setting, including a list of nursing homes with active public health investigations.

The graph shows the number of facility-wide investigations by setting over the course of the pandemic. This data helps us identify which settings are experiencing a larger proportion of investigations due to COVID-19 cases.

*When nursing homes detect COVID-19, it is a sign that they are following proper notification procedures. It also indicates that the nursing home is working with public health experts to test and protect their residents and employees with appropriate isolation and infection control practices. Proactive testing helps address outbreaks early on when they are easier to manage.

About our data: How do we measure this?

A single confirmed case in the following setting initiates a facility-wide public health investigation:

  • Long-term care facilities include skilled nursing facilities (nursing homes) and assisted living facilities (community-based residential facilities and residential care apartment complexes).

Two or more confirmed cases in the following settings initiate a facility-wide public health investigation:

  • Group housing facilities include correctional facilities, homeless shelters, dormitories, and group homes.
  • Health care facilities include hospitals, clinics, dialysis centers, hospice, and in-home care.
  • Workplace (non-health care) settings include manufacturing and production facilities, distribution facilities, offices, and other indoor workplaces.
  • Educational facilities include schools, colleges, universities, and child day care centers.
  • Other settings include adult day care centers, restaurants, event spaces, and religious settings.

A case investigation and contact tracing is conducted with all people reported with COVID-19, regardless of setting.

Facility-wide and outbreak investigations are considered closed when two maximum incubation periods have passed since the last possible exposure to a COVID-19 case in the facility without any new cases. For COVID-19, two maximum incubation periods are 28 days (maximum incubation period is 14 days).

We plan to update our data each Wednesday by 2 p.m.

Back to a list of charts on this page.

How can I download DHS COVID-19 data?

All DHS COVID-19 data is available for download directly from the chart on the page. You can click on the chart and then click "Download" at the bottom of the chart (gray bar).

To download our data visit one of the following links:

You can find more instructions on how to download COVID-19 data or access archived spatial data by visiting our FAQ page. The data dictionary (PDF) provides more information about the different elements available in the data above.

Last Revised: April 28, 2021

 Helpful Resources for Wisconsinites

 Join our email list - Sign up to receive weekly email updates about the COVID-19 response in Wisconsin.