County residents are getting vaccinated, case total stay slow

Nearly one-fourth of Trempealeau County residents have received at least the first in a series of COVID-19 vaccinations as of the start of this week as the number of new cases continues to decline.

With nearly 1,700 vaccinations administered last week, according to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, 6,876 county residents have received at least the first shot of the two-dose vaccination. The percentage of county residents vaccinated — 23.2 percent — is higher than the state’s average of 18.4 percent and better than Buffalo (21.3), Jackson (18.8), La Crosse (21.6) and Eau Claire (21.2) counties. The DHS reported that roughly 3,400 county residents have received both doses.

The DHS reported that 78.6 percent of county residents who are at least 65 years old have received at least one dose and 32.1 percent have received both doses.

Vaccine administration appears to be moving along in the county as there have been 1,437 vaccines administered per week since the last week in January when the vaccine started to become more available to the public. Last week was the first time more than 1,500 doses had been issued in the county as new groups — including people involved in education and child care — became eligible for the vaccine.

Last week, the DHS reported 13 new cases in Trempealeau County, tied for the lowest total since May.

Of the 32 new cases reported in the county the past two weeks, 11 have been in Trempealeau. There were five new cases in Trempealeau last week, the highest in the county while Independence had three and none of the other municipalities had more than one.

While the amount of new cases has been lower in recent weeks, the DHS did report one more death caused by COVID-19 last week.