DRIFTLESS - Over the past week COVID-19, diagnoses statewide increased from 232296 on Monday, Nov. 2 to 271,770 on Monday, Nov. 9. That is a statewide increase of 39,474 cases. The number of deaths increased from 2,050 to 2,329, an additional 279 deaths, according to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.
According to the Monday, Nov. 9 issue of Up North News, The Wisconsin Hospital Association on Monday reported a record number of COVID-19 patients needing hospitalization (2,003), a record number of those patients in intensive care units (396), and a record number of Wisconsin patients on ventilators (574).
Wisconsin's three-day total of new coronavirus cases is 15,705, with 73 Wisconsinites losing their lives due to the virus over the weekend, according to the state Department of Health Services (DHS).
The three-day average of new cases is more than 5,000 new cases, according to DHS.
On Tuesday, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz announced that bars and restaurants must stop serving at 10 p.m., and attendance at weddings, funerals and social gatherings will be limited under new restrictions.
The United States became the first nation worldwide since the pandemic began to surpass 10 million coronavirus infections, according to a Reuters tally on Sunday, as the third wave of the COVID-19 virus surges across the nation.
The grim milestone came on the same day as global coronavirus cases exceeded 50 million.
The United states has reported about a million cases in the past 10 days, the highest rate of infections since the nation reported its first novel coronavirus case in Washington state 293 days ago."
Crawford Countysaw 151 new cases, increasing to 560. The number of deaths in the county increased from one to three.
According to DHS, public health investigations are taking place at Prairie Maison in Prairie du Chien, five workplaces, three educational facilities, one group housing facility, one health care facility, one long-term-care facility and three “other” facilities in Crawford County.
Upcoming COVID-19 testing events in the county will be held as follows:
Gays Mills Community Center, 16381 Highway 131, Nov. 10, 12-6 p.m.
Hoffman Hall, 1600 S. Wacouta Ave., Prairie du Chien, Dec. 1, 12-6 p.m.
On Saturday, Crawford County Public Health Crawford County Public Health reported 149 COVID-19 cases in the last 14 days, an increase from 86 cases in the last two-week period. This is the highest positivity rate we have seen yet, at 16.6 percent. We are seeing increased cases of healthcare workers as well as K-12 staff and students.
“The virus is spreading and making it difficult for businesses, schools and healthcare facilities to run effectively.” says Cindy Riniker, Health Officer.
While some of the cases have been linked to other positive cases, 60 percent had no idea where they contracted the virus and were considered community spread. These cases spread throughout the county and range in ages under 10 to over 80 years old.
With over half of our eight metrics being red, it is clear that our county must take action to slow the spread of COVID-19. We have been in Phase One for the last month yet it seems many are not changing their behavior to help slow the spread. Many cases report attending group gathering in the days before symptoms began. With the Holidays coming up we want to remind everyone to please do your part to slow the spread.
With cases increasing so drastically in the last two-weeks we are also recommending that schools postpone all contact sports and consider moving to virtual learning for middle school and high school students. Our hope is if we can slow the spread, this recommendation could be lifted after our next bi-weekly metrics. If it does not slow, we may be recommending this through the end of the year.
All residents, organizations and facilities of Crawford County must be diligent now if we want to help our schools and businesses keep their doors open. It is time to stay home as much as possible and limit all non-essential gatherings with others. We understand we are all tired of these restrictions, but we are nearing our healthcare facilities not being able to provide services. We are begging you to keep distance from others, wear face coverings, wash your hands, avoid group gatherings and stay home when you are sick.
Vernon Countysaw an increase of 150 cases in the last week, increasing to 706. The number deaths increased to four.
Upcoming COVID-19 testing events in the county will be held as follows:
Vernon County Highway Department, 602 N. Main St., Viroqua, Nov. 12 and Dec. 10, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.
Richland Countysaw an increase of 83 cases, increasing to 602. The number of deaths in the county remained at 11.
According to DHS, public health investigations are taking place at Pine Valley Community Village in Richland Center, six workplaces, three long-term-care facilities, two health care facilities and one group housing facility in Richland County.
Upcoming COVID-19 testing events in the county will be held as follows:
Richland County Fairgrounds, 23630 County AA, Richland Center, Mondays 9 a.m.–1 p.m. and Thursdays 9 a.m.–4 p.m.
Monroe Countysaw an increase of 279 cases in the last week, going from 1,357 to 1,636. The number of deaths in the county increased by two to 12.
Upcoming COVID-19 testing events in the county will be held as follows:
Richland County Fairgrounds, 23630 County AA, Richland Center, Mondays 9 a.m.–1 p.m., Thursdays 9 a.m.–4 p.m.
Juneau Countysaw an increase in cases of 492, growing to 894. The number of deaths in the county remained at five.
On Friday, the Juneau County Health Department officially separated out the cases at the New Lisbon Correctional Facility from their county case count. Of the 492 new cases in the last week, 294 of them were in the facility, and 198 were in the rest of the county.
The County Health Department announced that due to large increase in cases, they are going into ‘crisis mode’ with contact tracing. “The public health system in Wisconsin is severely strained and overwhelmed by the sustained surge in daily case counts,” explained Juneau County Health Officer Amanda Dederich.
LaCrosse Countyhas continued to see an exponential increase in new cases in the last week of 900, going from 4,635 to 5,535. The number of deaths increased by four to 27.
The LaCrosse Tribune reports that La Crosse County recorded 66 new confirmed COVID-19 cases with a 34.02 percent positivity rate Monday, according to data from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.
The county has now averaged 128.57 new cases per day over the past seven days, up from 123 on Sunday and 76 a week ago.
Monday also marked the 22nd day in a row with a daily positivity rate above 10 percent, including above 20 percent on 13 of the past 14 days.
Grant Countyhas seen an increase of 267 cases in the last week, going from 2,153 to 2,420. The number of deaths in the county increased by nine to 47. In the last 14 days, Grant County has had an average of 49.6 new positive COVID-19 cases per day.
On Monday, the Grant County Health Department announced that due to the sustained increase in COVID-19 cases, they are unable to keep up with all aspects of contact tracing as quickly as they would like. This includes calls to positive cases as well as calls to contacts of those positive cases. At times, we are prioritizing nursing homes, schools, and other congregate settings. We cannot and will not give up on this, as contact tracing to isolate and quarantine those with or exposed to COVID-19 is a very important aspect to controlling the spread. We are continuing to hire more staff to assist with the high volume.
If you test at a community site, please be sure to provide reliable contact information. If you have tested in a healthcare setting, they will often notify you of the positive result and we ask that you please isolate if positive AND contact those who you have been around two days before becoming symptomatic or testing positive.
Lafayette Countyhas seen an increase of 132 cases in the last week, increasing to 746. The number of deaths in the county increased to two.
Iowa Countyhas seen an increase of 176 cases in the last week, increasing to 758. The number of deaths in the county remained at three.
“The rate of increasing cases is a concern, not only with contract tracing capacity, but also on several other fronts,” reports Iowa County Director of Public Health Debbie Siegenthaler. “We continue to be very concerned about hospital capacity, locally and regionally. At Uplands Hills Health in Dodgeville, the metric for staffing status indicating the number of available staff to care for the volume of patients is read. Even more troubling, are the regional hospital capacity metrics and the information that some of the hospitals that serve our residents are reporting difficulty getting supplies they need, staff shortages, and limited bed availability.”
