Allamakee County Public Health reports that seven new cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed within the county this past week

Allamakee County continued to follow the recent nationwide trend of increasing confirmed COVID-19 cases as summer activity has increased and restrictions that had been in place over the past several months have been lessened. After the Allamakee County Department of Public Health reported a total of eight new confirmed cases during the first week in July, Allamakee County’s new case numbers remained right within that same range this past week with seven new confirmed cases from Tuesday, July 7 through Monday, July 13.

That combined double-digit increase over the first two weeks of the month of July marks the first time since early May that Allamakee County has reported a double-digit increase in confirmed cases over a two-week period, with the county reporting 14 new cases from May 5-11 and then just two the following week (May 12-18) to begin a trend of no more than four new cases for any one week during the next two months. The double-digit increase from the past two weeks coincides with announcements made by Village Creek Bible Camp in rural Lansing and Expresso Convenience Store in Lansing of temporary closures of each facility following known exposure to individuals who later tested positive for COVID-19.

Those exposure incidents also led to some anxious moments for both Waukon and Kee High School athletic teams, as team members within some of their summer sports programs underwent testing following potential exposure. At last report, those test results all came back as negative, allowing all teams to participate as postseason tournament play gets underway this week.

The recent increase in cases raises the Allamakee County case total to 138 confirmed cases. The increase has also resulted in a pair of larger local annual events being called off for the month of August, as described in the shaded box on Page 16 inside this edition.

Veterans Memorial Hospital and Allamakee County Public Health remind local residents and visitors of the importance of continuing to follow the basic mitigation measures put in place early on when the COVID-19 pandemic first arrived with hand washing and social distancing. Those guidelines are further outlined on Page 4 in this week’s edition of The Standard.

Veterans Memorial Hospital also advises that testing is available through the hospital during the week by calling ahead to make arrangements. Testing guidelines and other details are outlined in the colored box printed below this article.

For more information, contact Allamakee County Public Health at 563-568-5660 or Veterans Memorial Hospital at 563-568-3431.