By Lynn Binnie
Whitewater Banner volunteer staff
whitewaterbanner@gmail.com
October 25, 2020

After a month of declining or stable COVID-19 cases in Walworth County and Whitewater, including UW-W, recent days have seen a reversal of that trend. The city’s incidence now appears to be similar to the statewide average.

• With a 7-day case incidence as of October 25 of 39.0, Walworth County is well into the “very high risk” category under the Jefferson County model that Whitewater Unified School District (WUSD) is no longer using as guidance. Whitewater’s case incidence, 54.0, is considerably outpacing that of Walworth County. Meanwhile, Jefferson County is also currently reporting a 7-day case incidence as of October 22 of 52. The statewide case incidence is reported to be 54.4. (Case incidence = average new cases per 100,000 people.)
• The school district seems to be bucking the trend. WUSD’s current data, which indicates that since September 1 there have been thirteen positive cases among students and three staff members, a change of only one student since our report of October 17. In-person classes resumed fulltime for 4K – 5th grade on September 28; grades 6-12 began a hybrid model on October 12.
• UWWs current data shows that last week there were 34 students (updated from 24 based on Oct. 26 report) and 2 staff/others with positive PCR tests. Although still a considerable reduction from the early weeks of the semester, this is more than double the previous week, when there were a total of 11 positives. In the initial four weeks of the semester there had been a total of 371 students and 15 others. In the past four weeks there have been 73 students and 5 others with positive PCR tests.
• Per this state website, Jefferson, Rock, and Walworth Counties all have “very high” COVID activity levels. The state as a whole is currently rated in the “very high” activity level. Per the state, “COVID-19 remains very contagious and most people in Wisconsin are still at risk of getting sick from the virus.”
  
  

DAILY CASE INCIDENCE PER 100,000 PEOPLE – WALWORTH COUNTY

End Date	New cases/14 days	Incidence	New cases/7 days	Incidence
9/15	527	38.8	403	59.2
9/22	648	47.7	245	36
9/29	379	27.9	134	19.7
10/5	302	22.2	176	25.9
10/16	308	22.6	176	25.9
10/25	427	31.4	265	39.0

DAILY CASE INCIDENCE PER 100,00 PEOPLE – CITY OF WHITEWATER (WALWORTH COUNTY PORTION)

End Date	New cases/14 days	Incidence	New cases/7 days	Incidence
9/15	345	206.8	284	340.4
9/22	419	251.1	132	158.1
9/29	180	107.9	48	57.6
10/17	42	25.1	20	24.0
10/25	61	36.6	45	54.0

TEST POSITIVITY RESULTS – CITY OF WHITEWATER (WALWORTH COUNTY PORTION)

End Date	# Tests Reported – 14 days	# Positive	Positivity %	# Tests Reported – 7 days	#Positive	Positivity %
8/22	216	27	12.5%	103	6	5.8%
8/29	240	19	7.9%	128	13	9.2%
9/7	421	77	18.3%	274	60	21.9%
9/20	958	404	42.2%	571	204	35.7%
9/29	663	180	27.1%	236	48	20.3%
10/17	175	42	24.0%	80	20	25.0%
10/25	310	61	19.7%	140	45	32.1%

TEST POSITIVITY RESULTS – WALWORTH COUNTY

End Date	# Tests Reported – 14 days	#Positive	Positivity %	# Tests Reported – 7 days	# Positive	Positivity %	% of Those with Positive Results Who Reported being Asymptomatic	Total Deaths
8/22	2386	277	11.6%	1071	112	10.5%	11.4%	25
8/29	1972	210	10.6%	901	98	10.9%	11.1%	27
9/7	1953	228	11.7%	986	129	13.1%	10.9%	32
9/22	2689	648	24.1%	1249	245	19.6%	9.7%	34
9/29	2504	379	15.1%	1255	134	10.7%	9.75%	35
10/5	2189	302	13.8%	864	176	25.6%	9.49%	35
10/16	1803	308	14.6%	1142	176	15.4%	9.47%	36
10/25	3304	427	12.9%	1097	265	24.2%	9.36%	38

WUSD is providing the following “COVID Tracking Data” on its website at this link.

COVID TRACKING DATA

On September 23, 2020 the WUSD School Board voted to suspend the utilization of a community level metric.

Below is the cumulative and current number of close contact, symptomatic, COVID positive staff and students.

District COVID Tracking Data Sept 1 – October 22 (updated October 23)
		Cumulative	October 22
STAFF
	Close Contact Positive Person	28	5
	Showing Symptoms	35	3
	Tested COVID-Positive	3	1
	Total Quarantined Staff	66
STUDENTS	Close Contact Positive Person	101	34
	Showing Symptoms	207	58
	Tested COVID-Positive	13	1
	Total Quarantined Students	321
	Totals	Number of Positive COVID Cases	16
	Number of Days of School	38

UWW has established the following dashboard which provides useful information. It is found at this link.

COVID-19 Dashboard

The COVID-19 pandemic is an ever-changing situation and the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater actively monitors and reviews a series of health, safety, and resource metrics to guide decision-making with regard to university operations. These metrics are considered in combination and consultation with recommendations and orders from the state and county health departments before any changes in operations are made.

Last Updated 10/23/2020 at 9:00 AM

COVID-19 cases reported to UW-Whitewater

	New reports – Week of Oct. 18 – Oct. 24	Previous week	Cumulative reports since March 2020
Students	24	8	442
Employees	1	3	20
Other	1	0	4
Unknown	0	0	0

Dashboard is updated on business days with available data. Numbers include cases reported through university-coordinated testing, as well as those reported through the COVID-19 Hotline, which may include testing that occurred off-campus through other health clinics/providers. Student employees are counted in the student numbers. The “Other” category is defined as any positive cases reported to UW-Whitewater who are neither students nor employees and may include visitors to the university, contractors or vendors, or others who have been to the university in person.  These numbers represent individuals who have had direct contact with the campuses.  Individuals who are working or attending solely in a remote manner and not living in University Housing are not included.

Regional Metrics

	University Health and Counseling Services (10/1-10/15)	Walworth County (9/29-10/12)	Rock County (9/30-10/13)	Jefferson County	Wisconsin (7-day average)
Percent Positive	29% (36/125*)	12.48%	15.9%	22.3%	20.8%
Time to complete contact tracing	100% of contacts are initiated within 48 hours**	97% of contacts are initiated within 48 hours	51% of contacts are initiated within 48 hours	Not Available	N/A
Healthcare system capacity level	No crisis management of care	No crisis management of care	No crisis management of care	Not Available	16% Available (Based on Immediate Bed Availability)
Total cases per 100,000 (14 days)	n/a	350.8	844.2	758.2	760.9

*UHCS percentage positive is based on PCR testing performed at the University Clinic site of students only.  Case totals are represented by (Total Positives/Total PCR Tests)

**To avoid duplication, UHCS actively partners with Walworth, Rock, and Jefferson Health Departments.  County Health Departments do tracing of positive cases and UHCS employees do tracing of contact cases. 

Previous 7 days of PCR Tests Administered

PCR* Test Date	# of PCR Tests Administered
10/14/20	6
10/15/20	4
10/16/20	1
10/19/20	17
10/20/20	15
10/21/20	14
10/22/20	18

*PCR testing is conducted on symptomatic individuals and individuals with positive Antigen testing results.

Total All PCR Tests	# of PCR Negative	# of PCR Positive	Percentage Positive
987	744	268	26.5%

Previous 7 days of Antigen Testing Administered

Antigen* Test Date	# of Antigen Tests Administered	# of Antigen Negative Results	# of Antigen Positive Results	Percentage Positive
10/14/20	62	62	0	0.0%
10/15/20	69	67	2	3.0%
10/16/20	65	65	0	0.0%
10/19/20	124	117	7	6.0%
10/20/20	181	177	4	2.3%
10/21/20	156	153	3	2.0%
10/22/20	73	68	5	7.4%
Weekly total	730	709	14	1.9%
Total All Antigen Tests	2,822	2,741	81	3.0%

Antigen* Test Date	# of Antigen Tests Administered	# of Antigen Negative Results	# of Antigen Positive Results	Percentage Positive
10/7/20	99	98	1	1.0%
10/8/20	60	58	2	3.4%
10/9/20	60	60	0	0.0%
10/12/20	123	123	0	0.0%
10/13/20	159	157	2	1.3%
10/14/20	62	62	0	0.0%
10/15/20	69	67	2	3.0%
Weekly total	632	625	7	1.1%
Total All Antigen Tests	2,223	2,161	62	2.9%

*Antigen testing is conducted on asymptomatic and random volunteers.