Forest County officials have indicated they have one of 38 nursing homes in Wisconsin where the Department of Health Services is doing public health investigations due to an outbreak of COVID-19.

The Forest County Health Department reported earlier this week that staff and residents of The Bay at Nu-Roc in Laona, Wis., have tested positive for COVID-19.

“The Forest County Health Department is working closely with The Bay at Nu-Roc leadership and staff to conduct a thorough investigation to track, trace, and contain the virus,” said Jacee Shepard, health officer/director of the Forest County Health Department. “We want to assure the residents of The Bay at Nu-Roc, their family members and facility staff that extra steps are being taken to protect residents because they live in a setting that puts them in close proximity with a larger number of people and they rely on staff and volunteers for care.”

Wisconsin DHS Secretary Andrea Palm said in a statement the nursing home names were released “in order to provide peace of mind to families who cannot visit or check on their loved ones during these unprecedented times.” Previously, the department only listed how many investigations into nursing homes were ongoing, but did not name any facilities.

“As we continue to see cases of COVID-19 in nursing homes, it is important to be transparent and list the locations where they are occurring,” Palm said.

Outbreaks at nursing homes have been a particular concern because older people are more susceptible to the virus, which can be easily spread where many people live close to one another.

It only takes one case of a resident or staff member testing positive at a nursing home to spur a public health investigation. The department said the list of facilities with ongoing investigations will be updated every Wednesday.

Among Wisconsin counties in this region, only Forest County had a new COVID-19 case Wednesday, its fifth after having none reported as recently as early last week, according to the state DHS COVID-19 data site. The tally Wednesday listed Marinette County with 21 cases and one death; Forest County with five cases; Vilas County with four cases; Florence County with two cases; and Iron County, two cases and a death.

Statewide, Wisconsin had recorded 10,902 cases of COVID-19 and 421 deaths as of Wednesday afternoon.

The Upper Peninsula again had no new COVID-19 cases in the daily listing Wednesday, with the tally remaining at 98 positive and 15 deaths, according to state health data.

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services’ online site Wednesday had Luce and Baraga counties with one virus case each; Chippewa and Houghton counties with two cases; Schoolcraft County with four cases; Gogebic County with four cases and a death; Dickinson County with five cases and two deaths; Menominee and Mackinac counties with six cases; Delta County with 14 cases and two deaths; and Marquette County with 51 cases and 10 deaths.

The MDHHS also separately listed prison inmates as positive in Luce and Chippewa counties.

Iron, Keweenaw, Alger and Ontonagon counties have yet to report a COVID-19 case in the Upper Peninsula and are the only counties in Michigan not to have at least one positive coronavirus test.

The MDHHS reported 370 confirmed new COVID-19 cases in the state Wednesday for a total of 48,391 to date. Michigan had 40 new deaths for 4,714 to date.

Dickinson County Healthcare System on Wednesday still listed three county residents testing positive at its facilities thus far, with two deaths, along with five positives from other counties; those counties were not identified. DCHS had tested 365 people for COVID-19, with eight positive, 330 negative and 27 results still pending. DCHS noted there are several additional sources of testing in Dickinson County. The Dickinson-Iron District Health Department records and reports the results of the county-wide data; it showed five positives for Dickinson County and none for Iron.