County to release new ‘compass’ this week

            Trempealeau County residents and businesses who have been missing the Coulee COVID-19 Compass can expect a replacement in the near future.

            Trempealeau County Health Department Information Officer Kaila Baer said on Monday that the department hopes to release a metric that will help area residents determine the risk of the spread of COVID-19.

            Trempealeau County had partnered with La Crosse County and other surrounding counties for the Coulee Compass, which issued risk levels ranging from low to severe. La Crosse County abruptly ended the compass in early August and has since released a new version called the Coulee COVID-19 Collaborative. The new CCC, however, is specific only to La Crosse County.

            Baer said Trempealeau County plans to release it’s own version on Friday of this week. 

            “It will be similar to La Crosse County, but not identical,” Baer said.

            As of Monday of this week, the risk of spread seemed to be lowering. Last week marked the fewest new COVID-19 cases since the beginning of June. 

            The county health department reported 21 new cases last week, the fewest since the week of June 1 to June 8. Those tested received positive results 9.6 percent of the time, the lowest since the last week of June.  

            “It is reasonable to assume people are being smart about their actions in public,” Baer said. “If we can keep this up as a community and model these smart behaviors to children, hopefully schools will continue to operate in person.”

            Baer said the mask mandate has likely contributed to the lower number of cases. 

            Also down is the number of tests issued. The 219 tests issued between Aug. 17 and Aug. 24, were the fewest since May and a significant drop off from the 290 tests per week the county has averaged over the past month. 

            One of the reasons, according to Baer, is because fewer people have reported symptoms of COVID-19.

            “According to our healthcare partners, they are getting less calls for testing,” Baer said. “This are likely multiple factors leading to this, including less people with symptoms and people not wanting a test for whatever reason. However, tests are available for those who need it.”

            The Arcadia area is still the most impacted by COVID-19, but even there the number of new cases dropped. There were nine new cases in Arcadia over the past week, according to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, about half the number of new cases the area has averaged weekly since the beginning of July. In all, the DHS has reported 184 cases in Arcadia, including 30 within the last two weeks. 

            The only other area that has had more than three new cases in each of the past two weeks is Independence, which saw an increase of seven for the second straight week. Whitehall had three new cases last week, Trempealeau had two, Blair/Ettrick, Osseo and Eleva/Strum all had one new case. 

            As of Monday, Independence and Arcadia were the only municipalities with more than 10 active cases. 

            To date, there have been 398 cases of COVID-19 in Trempealeau County, including two deaths. As of Monday morning, there were 56 active cases, but nobody was hospitalized. 

            Nearly 60 percent of the people who tested positive for COVID-19 reported moderate symptoms, while roughly 30 percent were mild. Only 12 of the first 309 cases reported no symptoms and 24 had severe symptoms.