By Lynn Binnie
Whitewater Banner volunteer staff
whitewaterbanner@gmail.com
November 24, 2020

• It’s not possible to precisely differentiate new cases at UW-W from those in the larger community, but in a recent two week period there were 202 new positive results in the Walworth County portion of the city, and during that period UW-W “only” reported 112. Presumably some of UW-W’s cases would have been reported in Jefferson County. Out of the tests reported in the Walworth County portion of the city in the past week, an alarming 55% were positive. Mandi Kolb, a 911 dispatcher, stated at the virtual WUSD board meeting on Monday evening that she is “taking call after call related to COVID-19.”
• With a 7-day case incidence as of November 24 of 86.3, Walworth County’s positive cases have moderated slightly, from 92.4 in the past week. The county is still very deeply into the “very high risk” category (which begins at 25) under the Jefferson County model that Whitewater Unified School District (WUSD) is no longer using as guidance. Whitewater’s case incidence, 121, is even higher than Walworth County’s, and continues to climb. Meanwhile, Jefferson County is currently reporting a 7-day case incidence as of November 14 of 85, down somewhat from last week’s 95. The statewide case incidence is reported to be 108.5. (Case incidence = daily average new cases per 100,000 people.)
• Informed by new guidance from Walworth and Rock Counties, the WUSD board voted on November 23 to pause in-person instruction beginning Nov. 30. With rapidly rising cases in the area, the health departments reverted to Phase I in their COVID-19 guidance and expressed concern regarding the potential for additional spikes related to the upcoming holidays. The school district has now had four school closings since the gradual return to in-person school, with classes going virtual at Lakeview for 11/5-6, at the High School on 11/9, at Lincoln for 11/10-12, and at the High School for 11/20. Though the District Administrator indicated on November 23 that there is only evidence of one student having been infected at school, cases among students have risen considerably. The 29 new staff/student cases (including 6 staff) continued an upward trend, compared with 24 new cases in the previous week. WUSD’s current data indicates that since September 1 there have been 57 positive cases among students and 17 staff members. In-person classes resumed fulltime for 4K – 5th grade on September 28; grades 6-12 began a hybrid model on October 12, and fulltime in-person classes resumed on November 2.
• UWWs current data shows that last week there were 47 students and 2 staff/others with positive PCR tests, a decline from the 57 students in the previous week. In the initial four weeks of the semester there had been a total of 371 students and 15 others. In the past seven weeks there have been 246 students and 23 others with positive PCR tests. Positive results from the rapid antigen tests that are administered to asymptomatic and random volunteers increased from 1.1% six weeks ago to 1.9% five weeks ago, 3.35% four weeks ago, to 8.15% three weeks ago. With an increase in testing, those results dropped two weeks ago to 5.85% positive, and this past week to 3.6%.
• Two weeks ago the state introduced a new “critically high” COVID activity level. Per this state website, the state as a whole and all counties except Green now have “critically high” COVID activity levels. 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
11/1	533	39.2	268	39.4
11/8	795	58.5	527	77.6
11/16	1218	89.6	628	92.4
11/24	1266	93.1	586	86.3

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
11/1	75	44.9	30	36.0
11/8	88	52.7	58	69.6
11/16	160	95.9	87	104.3
11/24	205	122.9	101	121.0

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%
11/1	266	75	28.2%	126	30	23.8%
11/8	297	88	29.6%	171	58	33.4%
11/16	413	160	38.7%	234	87	37.2%
11/24	443	205	46.3%	182	101	55%

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
11/1	2289	533	23.3%	1192	268	22.5%	9.10%	39
11/8	2748	795	28.9%	1556	527	33.9%	8.8%	39
11/16	3465	1218	35.2%	1824	628	34.4%	7.84%	43
11/24	3651	1266	34%	1787	586	32.8%	7.51%	47

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 – November 23 (updated Nov. 24)
		Cumulative	Nov. 23
STAFF
	Close Contact Positive Person	55	14
	Showing Symptoms	48	2
	Tested COVID-Positive	17	3
	Total Quarantined Staff	120
STUDENTS	Close Contact Positive Person	343	115
	Showing Symptoms	386	8
	Tested COVID-Positive	57	19
	Total Quarantined Students	786
	Totals	Number of Positive COVID Cases	74
	Number of Days of School	56

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 11/24/2020 at 9:00 AM

COVID-19 cases reported to UW-Whitewater

	New reports – Week of Nov. 15-21	Previous week	Cumulative reports since March 2020
Students	47	57	648
Employees	2	3	37
Other	0	1	5
Unknown	0	2	3

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 (11/9-11/23)	Walworth County (11/7-11/20)	Rock County (10/28-11/10)	Jefferson County	Wisconsin (7-day average)
Percent Positive	40% (114/288*)	24.45%	31.9%	25%	29.3%
Time to complete contact tracing	100% of contacts are initiated within 48 hours**	29% of contacts are initiated within 48 hours	23% of contacts are initiated within 48 hours	Not Available	N/A
Healthcare system capacity level	No crisis management of care	8% ICU beds available	Hospitals at a medium capacity level	Not Available	15% Available (Based on Immediate Bed Availability)
Total cases per 100,000	n/a	1373.1 (98.1 per day)	1319.7 (94.3 per day)	1511.7 (108/day)	1519.4 (108.5)

*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
11/13/20	14
11/16/20	36
11/17/20	33
11/18/20	25
11/19/20	14
11/20/20	21
11/23/20	22

*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
1555	1100	507	31.5%

3.2%Antigen* Test Date	# of Antigen Tests Administered	# of Antigen Negative Results	# of Antigen Positive Results	Percentage Positive
11/13/20	66	62	4	6.1%
11/16/20	208	194	9	4.3%
11/17/20	167	161	6	3.6%
11/18/20	269	257	12	4.5%
11/19/20	270	260	10	3.7%
11/20/20	258	253	5	1.9%
11/23/20	299	290	9	3.0%
Weekly total	1537	1477	55	3.6%
Total All Antigen Tests	6801	6505	284	4.2%

*Antigen testing is conducted on asymptomatic and random volunteers.