GREEN BAY - As Brown County continues to see the fastest spread of COVID-19 cases in Wisconsin, hospitals in the Green Bay area say they are equipped to handle an increase in patients from the outbreak.

But they are not sharing specific details of how they are equipped, such as the amount of personal protection gear on hand, or the number of beds available.

The county had at least 511 confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of Thursday, local health officials announced, and two people have died. More than half of the cases were employees from three local meat-processing plants or their family members.

The number of cases in the county has jumped tenfold since April 7, and Brown County now ranks second in the state in total cases behind Milwaukee County.

Local hospitals said they have been getting ready for such a spike in cases, including possible hospitalizations from the outbreaks at meat-processing plants.

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Twenty-two people were hospitalized in Brown County on Thursday related to COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. That was about the same number the county reported in previous days.

Angela Deja, public relations coordinator for Prevea Health and Hospital Sisters Health System hospitals in northeast Wisconsin, said they have not yet seen an influx of patients.

Since the outbreak at the meat-processing plants, Bellin Health has seen more than 70 to 100 people a day in its respiratory clinic, which was converted from a primary care clinic, to be tested or showing symptoms of COVID-19, said Dave Kobielak, emergency management specialist at Bellin.

Bellin also experienced a slight increase in hospitalized COVID-19 patients since the county saw its largest outbreak at JBS Packerland, a Green Bay business linked to at least 189 cases as of Thursday. Bellin, Advocate Aurora and Hospital Sisters Health System, the three major systems in the area, have started on-site testing at the meatpacking plants with outbreaks, including JBS.

“Now that we’re seeing this relatively large outbreak in the county, we have to help support these other clinics because we’re starting to see such large volumes of people wanting to be tested," Kobielak said. "We can be out there and we can keep those people out of our respiratory clinic and other primary clinics.”

Deja and Kobielak did not share the number of beds or personal protection equipment available at their hospitals should there be a surge in patients needing to be admitted.

The 10 hospitals in northeast Wisconsin including Brown County have 114 ventilators, with 24 patients using them as of Thursday, according to data from the Wisconsin Hospital Association.

Two hospitals have less than a week’s amount of goggles. One hospital in the region has up to a week’s worth of gowns and face shields, according to the association, which did not identify which hospitals had supply issues.

To help support the recent outbreak, Gov. Tony Evers announced Monday that 2,200 test collection supplies and PPEs would be sent to Green Bay.

As the growth rate in Brown County continues to surpass even Milwaukee and Madison, Kobielak urged people to continue practicing social distancing.

"What we are seeing right now with this outbreak really just reminds us that we need to remain vigilant with our physical distancing," he said. "I know people want to get back in the community and want to start doing things, but we're just not quite there yet."

Raquel Rutledge of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel contributed to this report.

Contact Benita Mathew at (920) 309-3428 or bmathew@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @benita_mathew.