COVID cases steady, too high for TCHD tracing

While there wasn’t a significant increase in the number of COVID-19 cases from two weeks ago to last week, the overall total has overwhelmed the county health department. 

The Trempealeau County Health Department announced last Friday that due to the “surge in cases” the department is working under “crisis standards of practice.” The department said it has received more COVID-19 results than it has the capability to contact. The health department referred those who have tested positive or have been a close contact to someone who has tested positive to seek guidance on the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) website. 

The DHS reported 176 new cases in Trempealeau County last week, one more than the previous week. The county now has the fourth highest rate of cases per 100,000. 

There was again an increase in cases amongst school-aged (five-to-19) county residents as the health department reported 65 new cases in that age range. Residents in the Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau School District were reported to have the most cases in the Times coverage area with 64. Blair-Taylor residents reported 40 cases, Arcadia, 25 and both Whitehall and Independence reported 22. 

This was the first time the Independence district reported a significant number of cases since school began. Independence is the only district that has had a mask mandate in place since the beginning of school. G-E-T put a mandate in place last week (see story elsewhere in this week’s Times) while Blair-Taylor extended a mandate for elementary school students and staff that was set to end Sept. 21 to Oct. 5. 

In an e-mail to district parents, B-T elementary principal Lynn Halverson said the district has had 28 students test positive for COVID-19, after having just seven positive cases throughout the entire 2020-21 school year. He estimated that having a mask mandate in place the previous two weeks meant that 25 students did not have to quarantine. 

 Amongst county municipalities, Trempealeau had the most new cases with 34. Both Blair and Strum had 28 new cases; Osseo, 27; Eleva, 23; Arcadia, 21; Galesville, 18; Ettrick, Independence and Whitehall, 16.