New COVID-19 cases approach all-time weekly high for Allamakee County during past week

The past week saw the recent rise in new confirmed COVID-19 cases for Allamakee County continue to climb toward the all-time local high for a single week’s timeframe since the pandemic began. The Tuesday to Monday timeframe utilized by The Standard in an effort to provide the latest possible update in case numbers prior to printing each week saw 31 new cases reported by the State of Iowa for Allamakee County during this most recent week, Tuesday through Monday, October 13-19.

Those 31 cases are second only to the local all-time high of 32 cases reported for Allamakee County from April 21-27 earlier this year, and also equal the same near-record weekly case count reported in the county just over a month ago, September 8-14. This past week’s 31 new confirmed cases emerged from a total of 114 test results being reported for that same week-long timeframe, calculating out to a positivity rate of 27.2% of those tested - also one of the highest weekly percentages reported in Allamakee County since the beginning of the pandemic.

The past week began with just a single case reported Tuesday, October 13, followed by two cases each for Wednesday and Thursday. Friday, October 16  saw an initial jump in cases with seven reported that day, but Saturday saw an even bigger jump to 10 new cases, which is the most in a single day within the past month and only had two other days with higher reports of new local cases since the pandemic began, 12 cases being reported April 26 and 14 two days later, April 28. Sunday added five new cases, and four more were reported Monday, October 19 to leave the Allamakee County case total at 327 through that date, according to information provided by the State of Iowa.

Allamakee County Public Health officials note that this past week’s higher case count has been from a “scattering of cases throughout the county” and not necessarily attributed to one certain location or event. They also advise that they don’t believe this past week’s case total increase can yet be attributed to test results from the new Test Iowa clinic site opened in Decorah this past week, as the turnaround time for test results this past week may not be quick enough to show up in case numbers reported thus far but could certainly have an impact in the near future.

“We think the new Test Iowa site is a great addition to our fight against this pandemic, it takes a little pressure off our testing system here for people who may not be able to meet the local testing requirements or fit into scheduling here,” explained Sheryl Darling-Mooney of Allamakee County Public Health. “We’ve been trying to get one of those test sites here locally for a long time, so it’s nice to have it here regionally to take advantage of when people need it.”