By Lynn Binnie
Whitewater Banner volunteer staff
whitewaterbanner@gmail.com
January 19, 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 new local cases for the seven days ending January 19 reflect a return to the progress that had been made for several weeks prior to an increase last week. Eleven new cases were diagnosed, compared with twenty-five in the previous week.

The city’s rate per 100,000 population is still the lowest among the cities/counties shown on the chart below; however, it must be noted that with many of the UW-W students just returning for the spring semester, Whitewater’s current population was overstated for this purpose. No new cases were reported on the campus during the period.

Thirty-one deaths related to COVID-19 have been reported in the city, an increase of three from last week; thirty-four 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.

Rapid testing that has been offered to the community at UW-W is scheduled to end on Friday, January 22.

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
1/11	3.57	24.2
1/19	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
1/11	5.00	24.8
1/19	1.86	9.2

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	1/11	1/19
Madison	35.1	25.8	24.3	27.9	38.9	23.1
Jefferson	39.4	43.1	46.6	55.6	53.9	26.9
Palmyra	49.5	40.9	24.8	57.6	24.8	16.7
Fort Atkinson	50.6	52.9	25.3	50.6	50.6	39.1
Jefferson County	53	42.2	33.4	45.4	52.0	33.6
Entire state of WI	65	61.4*	51.3**	40.1***	38.5 ****	44.4 @
Milton	66.5	17.9	20.4	89.7	69.2	38.4
Walworth County	67.5	49.4	31.9	34.4	50.3	21.2
Milwaukee	67.8	53.4	30.1	34.5	43.7	31.6
Rock County	67.8	50.1	33.5	40.4	45.9	31.8
Whitewater	71.6	29.1	20.3	10.6	24.2	10.6
Elkhorn	73.6	56.2	33.2	27.4	46.1	18.8
Janesville	78	60.4	34.8	35.0	41.9	29.8
Cambridge	80	45.6	0	45.6	56.8	11.2

*The statewide rate is for the past 14 days. ** Statewide rate for the 14 days ending 12/22 ***14 days ending 12/29 **** 14 days ending 1/5/21 @ 14 days ending 1/12/21