La Crosse County trending in wrong direction with COVID-19

In April, La Crosse County had 10 total cases of COVID-19.

In May, there were 26. Ten days into June, and the county has already seen 43 cases, including a single-day high 15 on Wednesday, after a previous high of seven Tuesday.

The recent trend is one La Crosse County Health Director Jen Rombalski says can be attributed to things like lifting the state’s “Safer at Home” order.

“So, we did anticipate some cases relating to that,” Rombalski said Wednesday at the public briefing. “We never knew how many and I don’t think we still know how many. We have not peaked and we’ll continue to see case numbers go up because the virus is definitely in the community.”

Back in April, La Crosse County went on a stretch of 13 days without a case. Now, it’s seen 12 consecutive days with one, including the past nine with multiple cases.

Of the 15 cases reported Wednesday, five came from the National Guard testing site.

“There will be lots of questions, I anticipate, about, ‘Where is the virus?'” Rombalski said. “And, at this point, I think it’s fair to say that, any time you leave your home, that the virus is potentially present, and that you need to take precautions to protect yourself.”

Rombalski added that if the trend continues, it could affect businesses to the point where workers are home sick, and the business has to shut down.

“I do think that we are not taking all the precautions that we could be to decrease the spread, and if that continues to be the case, I worry about communities — ours and others — that will see much more significant impact, even then we’re having right now.”

There has now been 98 total cases in La Crosse County with 56 considered recovered. Two are currently hospitalized but the county says they are not in serious condition. Nobody has died from the virus in the county.