By Lynn Binnie
Whitewater Banner volunteer staff
whitewaterbanner@gmail.com
January 4, 2021

In December the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, for the first time, started providing COVID-19 data for each municipality and school district in the state. This is particularly helpful for Whitewater, as the previous information that was enumerated by census tract did not isolate the portion of the city that is located in Jefferson County. The statistics for the seven days ending January 4 reflect a significant reduction in new cases compared with the seven days ending December 28. Nonetheless, eleven new cases were identified in the city during the week. Most of the other municipalities we have been tracking experienced increases in new cases during the week.

The city’s rate per 100,000 population is now the lowest among the cities/counties shown on the chart below; however, it must be noted that with many of the UW-W students having returned home, Whitewater’s current population is overstated for this purpose. For the first time in months, the current 10.6 rate is substantially below the threshold of 25 beyond which the Jefferson County Health Department recommends that in-person instruction not occur. The Whitewater Unified School District initially used that measure, but no longer utilizes a rate based policy.

In response to a request for an update regarding COVID-19 testing and reporting at UW-W, Jeff Angileri, Director of Public Information, indicated that as of December 18 there had been 12,466 “surge” tests conducted. Further information will be forthcoming.

Twenty-five deaths related to COVID-19 have been reported in the city, an increase of three from last week; twenty-eight, and increase of five from last week, have been reported in the school district. It is believed that the majority of the deaths that have been reported in the city have taken place in senior residences.

New daily confirmed cases reported as an average over the last 7 days and rate per 100,000 population:

City of Whitewater	Average new daily cases	Rate per 100,000 population
12/5	7.14	48.4
12/12	10.57	71.6
12/21	4.29	29.1
12/28	3.00	20.3
1/4	1.57	10.6
Whitewater Unified School District
12/5	9.29	46.1
12/12	13.14	65.2
12/21	5.00	23.4
12/28	4.57	22.7
1/4	3.00	14.9

Rates per 100,000 population for selected municipalities based on past 7 days as of 1/4

	12/12	12/21	12/28	1/4
Madison	35.1	25.8	24.3	27.9
Jefferson	39.4	43.1	46.6	55.6
Palmyra	49.5	40.9	24.8	57.6
Fort Atkinson	50.6	52.9	25.3	50.6
Jefferson County	53	42.2	33.4	45.4
Entire state of WI	65	61.4*	51.3**	40.1***
Milton	66.5	17.9	20.4	89.7
Walworth County	67.5	49.4	31.9	34.4
Milwaukee	67.8	53.4	30.1	34.5
Rock County	67.8	50.1	33.5	40.4
Whitewater	71.6	29.1	20.3	10.6
Elkhorn	73.6	56.2	33.2	27.4
Janesville	78	60.4	34.8	35.0
Cambridge	80	45.6	0	45.6