Virus death toll rises in Winona County, now second-highest in state; La Crosse no new cases for over week

Two more deaths reported Sunday from COVID-19 have pushed the toll in Winona County to 10.

Only Hennepin County, where Minneapolis is located, has more deaths (75 from 924 cases).

Winona now has 61 confirmed cases.

On the other side of the state, 60 people tested positive in Nobles County, where many workers have been sickened at a meatpacking plant. That is up 24 from Saturday.

Also, one nursing home in Winona is moving residents who have not tested positive for the virus to another facility. More than 90 nursing homes in Minnesota have residents who have tested positive.

Testing appears to still a major hurdle.

“Limitations on testing, due to lack of supplies and laboratory capabilities, across the state, resulted in a situation where we are essentially blind to the status of the spread of the virus in our community,” Winona Health CEO Rachelle Schultz said in a statement, referring to the first case in Winona being confirmed March 26. “This, too, is still true. However, from the first case to now, we continue to gain greater understanding of the challenges that the virus poses and how we might combat those challenges.”

Meanwhile, La Crosse County has now gone nine consecutive days without a case. The seven days prior to that, La Crosse had no more than one case per day. There have been just four cases in the past 14 days. Of the 26 total cases in the county, 23 have recovered. One person in the hospital last week was released Friday.

Trempealeau and Houston counties have only had one cases. Vernon County still has zero confirmed.

Statewide, Wisconsin reported nine deaths Sunday, 147 new cases and 14 hospitalizations. Totals now are 4,346 cases, 220 deaths and 1,190 hospitalizations — 29 percent of cases end up being hospitalized.

Milwaukee County continues to be affected the most by the virus with 2,188 cases and 121 deaths.

In Minnesota, there were 13 more deaths, 143 new cases and 13 more hospitalizations — five going to the ICU. Minnesota now has a 134 deaths, 2,356 cases, 574 hospitalizations — 228 still in the hospital, including 116 remaining in the ICU.

In Iowa, there were 389 new positive test results for a total of 2,902 confirmed cases. The death toll grew by just one for a total of 75.