COVID-19: Record for new cases, more deaths

For the third straight week the previous record of new COVID-19 cases in Trempealeau County has been smashed as the elderly community members continue to be impacted with two more deaths last week.

The death total in Trempealeau County sat at eight as of press time this week, with numerous older community members remaining at risk.

From last week to this week, there were 15 new cases amongst people who are 80 years old or older and there have been 21 over the past two weeks. As of Oct. 14, there had been 14 total, according to the Trempealeau County Health Department.

There has also been a sharp increase of people between the ages of 70 and 79 with those cases nearly doubling in the last two weeks and there have been 46 new cases amongst people between the ages of 60 and 69 in the last two weeks.

As of Monday, eight county residents were hospitalized due to COVID-19.

According to the Department of Health Services, facility-wide investigations are underway at Dove Healthcare in Osseo, Grand View Care Center in Blair, Marinuka Manor in Galesville and the Trempealeau County Health Care Center in Whitehall. 

Included in last week’s new record 228 New cases was a daily record of 49 last Thursday with 48 more coming on Friday. The previous record for a single day before last week was 39 new cases, while the weekly record was 168, set two weeks ago, which broke the record of 111 set three weeks ago. (Editor's note: After press time on Tuesday, the health department reported 62 new cases that day setting yet another new daily record.)

The health department noted large gatherings such as Halloween parties or political rallies held recently as part of the reason for the spread, but also said smaller gatherings — dinner gatherings, game nights or family visits — are a problem as well.

“These small get-togethers are also contributing to the spread,” Kaila Baer, Trempealeau County Health Department public information officer, said. “The fact that these gatherings continue to happen shows that many people are not taking COVID-19 seriously. People have let their guard down and resumed some ‘normal’ activities.”

The county also issued an advisory for two restaurants in Trempealeau last week, advising anybody who was Driftless Bike & Bean or Liberty Peak Deli on either Oct. 31 or Nov. 1 to limit all non-essential activities for 14 days from the exposure date.  Trempealeau tied with Arcadia for the most new cases last week with 40. Osseo had 33 new cases, Eleva/Strum, 29; Galesville and Whitehall, 21; Independence, 18 and Blair, 11.  

As of Monday, the county had 1,386 total cases since the pandemic began, more than 350 of which are considered active. About 55 percent of the cases have been deemed to have spread through community contact — meaning the origin is undetermined, and 44 percent are close contact.

Roughly 52 percent of those who tested positive have shown moderate symptoms, 33.7 percent had mild symptoms and 6.6 percent have been severe. The health department reported last week that 7.5 percent had no symptoms.