County cases, rate spike again

     After trending in a positive direction for two straight weeks, the number of new COVID-19 cases and the rate in which positive results were returned both increased last week.

     The Wisconsin Department of Health Services reported 31 new cases in Trempealeau County from Aug. 31 to Sept. 7 with a positivity rate of 12.3 percent. The increase came after two straight weeks of decreases in both the number of new cases and positivity rate with lows of 13 new cases and a rate of 7.3 percent two weeks ago. Eight of the positive tests reported last week were issued Aug. 29 at a community testing site in Arcadia. A total of 50 tests were issued that day, according to the Wisconsin National Guard.

     Unlike the past two weeks, the spread wasn’t mostly limited to the Arcadia area. While Arcadia still had nine of the 31 new cases, more areas in the county saw increases. Trempealeau had four new cases for the second week in a row, while Whitehall had five after not having a new case since mid-August. The Blair/Ettrick area had four new cases, Galesville had two — after having just three throughout the month of August.

     Over the past two weeks, the DHS has reported 44 new cases in Trempealeau County, much of which would be considered active. Arcadia has had 18 of those cases, with eight in Trempealeau, five in Whitehall, four in Independence and Blair/Ettrick, two in Osseo, Galesville and Eleva/Strum. Health officials have said that cases should be considered active for 14 days.

     The Trempealeau County Health Department has reported four new cases amongst people between the ages of 15 and 19 since school began. One nearby school — Cochrane-Fountain City — has postponed in-person instruction for high school students and all sports, reportedly due to four positive COVID-19 tests within the district. The district has announced plans to resume sports and in-person instruction on Sept. 21.

     Of the county’s first 429 cases, the health department reported 227 — 53 percent — have been people between the ages of 20 and 40.

     The county reported last Thursday that there had been no new hospitalizations, but saw increases in both the number of cases per 100,000 and those that were due to community spread.

     The cases per 100,000 increased from 9.2 to 10.6 cases, which put the county in the second-most-severe “orange” category on the county’s status report, which is updated every Thursday. The cases due to community spread remained in the severe red category, increasing from 47.4 to 63.3 percent.