Full week of daily double-digit cases pushes Allamakee County to second highest weekly total of COVID-19 cases and includes outbreak at Northgate Care Center
A full week of double-digit cases of COVID-19 reported each day for Allamakee County this past week has produced the second highest weekly total of new confirmed cases for the county since the pandemic began. The 107 new cases reported during this past week’s timeframe of Tuesday, November 24 through Monday, November 30 is second - by just one case - to the highest weekly total of 108 cases reported just two weeks ago, November 10-16.
Although representing just one of the now nine months the COVID-19 pandemic has grabbed hold within the local population, the month of November, by itself, accounts for just shy of one half of the entire Allamakee County case total since those cases were first reported in March of this year. Since November 1, the State of Iowa has reported a total of 385 of the county’s now 818 total cases as of Monday, November 30.
This past week’s reported timeframe featured another single-day high of 25 cases reported Thursday, November 26 - the third time since November 10 that single-day high of 25 new cases for Allamakee County has been reported. Prior to that single-day high, this past week began with 18 cases reported Tuesday, November 24 and 11 reported November 25. Since that Thursday high point, the daily case count for Allamakee County has decreased each day from Friday, November 27 through Monday, November 30 with daily totals of 16, 14, 12 and 11, respectively.
As of the latest update provided by the State of Iowa, Allamakee County reported a total of five current hospitalizations due to COVID-19. That latest update had been provided Saturday, November 28 and is updated every several days by the State of Iowa.
NORTHGATE CARE CENTER EXPERIENCES OUTBREAK
The higher number of confirmed cases for Allamakee County this past week involves the unfortunate inclusion of a new outbreak reported at Northgate Care Center in Waukon. The State of Iowa reports that the long-term care facility now has 14 confirmed positive cases between residents and staff members, with 12 of those being confirmed within the past 14 days.
The first long-term care facility in Allamakee County to report an outbreak, Thornton Manor in Lansing, seems to have reached a plateau in its outbreak status, remaining at the same 40 cases the State of Iowa had reported between residents and staff members at the facility as of Monday, November 23. However, an additional 12 of those cases are now being listed as recovered from a week earlier, resulting in nearly three-fourths of the facility’s confirmed cases from the recent outbreak - 29 in total - to now be considered as recovered.
Both Northgate Care Center in Waukon and Thornton Manor in Lansing are among the now 156 long-term care facilities across the state of Iowa currently dealing with an outbreak of COVID-19 cases. That number increased by 35 facilities within the past week, with nearly 5,000 cases being attributed to outbreaks in long-term care facilities across the state.
SCHOOL DISTRICTS
The Allamakee Community School District provided its latest COVID-19 update just prior to its recent Thanksgiving holiday break, which began with an early dismissal Wednesday, November 25. That November 25 update reported that two staff members and nine students throughout the district have tested positive for COVID-19 since the district’s last update provided November 13.
As of that November 25 update, the school district reported that 101 students were currently being quarantined due to potential exposure to a positive COVID-19 case, although that exposure was not necessarily from within the school setting and a majority of that exposure is being reported as coming from outside the school realm. Those 101 students included 25 students at West Elementary School, 21 at East Elementary, 20 at Waukon Middle School, and 35 students at Waukon High School.
The Eastern Allamakee Community School District has not provided a COVID-19 case or quarantine update to the public since November 11 but returned to school Monday, November 30 after a planned nine-day shut-down that included the district’s Thanksgiving holiday break and the two weekends on either side of that break. As of Monday, November 30, the Postville Community School District is reporting 15 students either testing positive or awaiting a test result, as well as 22 students who are quarantined due to potential exposure.
