Coronavirus
COVID-19 case counts explode in La Crosse, Winona counties; Minnesota, Iowa also set daily record
According to state data, La Crosse County has a total of 1,109 COVID-19 cases on Thursday.
Wednesday, that total was 1,077.
That means there was a jump of 32 cases in the past 24 hours, the most by far since reporting began. The previous high was 25 back on June 19, during a string of 11 consecutive days with 20 or more cases.
The La Crosse County Health Department said it wasn’t a glitch, but couldn’t give any main reasoning for the jump in cases, offering that the labs may be testing in bunches or results from a recent National Guard testing site could have come in — or both.
In Winona County alone, there are 37 new cases for the day, 35 of which were 18-24-year-olds.
“Winona County is performing contact tracing and is actively working with the MDH and local community partners, including educational institutions, to address the recent significant rise in COVID-19 cases. Winona County and MDH will take steps as needed to isolate and quarantine individuals as needed to ensure the safety of Winona County residents,” Winona County officials said in a release Thursday.
This is the first week of fall classes at Winona State University but the city said the cases weren’t just college students.
STATE TOTALS
Wisconsin: 73,138, 5,684 hospitalizations, 1,111 deaths
Minnesota: 72,390 cases, 6,326 hospitalizations, 1,806 deaths
Iowa: 61,484 cases, 1,091 deaths
Minnesota is seeing a surge of new coronavirus cases, with schools coming back into session. The state reports 1,158 new cases just Thursday, which appears to be a one-day record in for the state.
The state has had daily cases in the 900s twice and 800s eight times.
The reasoning for the case rise could be similar to what La Crosse County pointed to, according to Minnesota’s Department of Health (MDH).
“These higher counts are partially due to a backlog of data belatedly reported by a Minnesota provider and lab, Valley Medical, which has had an inconsistent record of reporting results to the state despite the requirements of the communicable disease reporting rule,” MDH said Thursday in a statement.
That doesn’t explain the 13 deaths or 52 hospitalizations, however. Those can’t really be backlogged.
The state has averaged 43 hospitalizations a day in August. And it’s now had 27 deaths the past two days.
There hasn’t been back-to-back double digit deaths in a day since May and June when that was happening nearly every day.
No other surrounding counties saw any significant jumps in cases. Trempealeau (410 total) and Houston (69) counties added three, Monroe (272) added two. Buffalo (58) and Vernon (92) saw no increases.
Statewide, Wisconsin reported another 878 cases, 33 hospitalizations and 11 deaths. The state is averaging 6.6 deaths, 38.8 hospitalizations a day in August.
Well, in the past 24 hours, beginning at 4 a.m. Thursday, the dashboard shows an increase of 2,621 cases, along with 14 deaths.
