La Crosse adds another 26 COVID-19 cases, as Wisconsin sends record 141 more to hospital

Another 26 new cases of COVID-19 in La Crosse County on Wednesday, while the state blows away the single-day high for newly hospitalized patients.

Updates from the Coulee COVID-19 Collaborative dashboard indicate the new case rate remains in red, the new hospitalization rate has now moved from green to yellow, and the hospitalization care capacity remains in green.

The dashboard is a collaborative between the county health department, Gundersen Health System and Mayo Clinic Health System in La Crosse. The dashboard is updated on Wednesday. Data, however, is through the previous Sunday.

The seven-day rolling average for new hospitalizations is now 7.63 per 100,000 people a day, according to the dahsboard’s metrics page. To get back into green, that rate needs to be lower than six a day.

The average cases per day is 38. To get that to green, it needs to be at 0-1 cases a day. Yellow is between 10-25 cases.

Last week the “community metrics” on the dashboard were all in red — as in “concerning.” This week, one has moved to green — cases interviewed — while another has gone from red to yellow, as in “progressing.” That stat is testing turnaround time. It’s at 84.4%. To be in the green, it needs to be at 85%.

The hospitalization metric for La Crosse County remained at a total of 97 from Tuesday to Wednesday.

In surrounding counties:
Vernon added 16 cases (318 total – 109 active – four hospitalized)
Trempealeau added 17 (755 total – 132 active – two hospitalized)
Monroe added 20 cases (719 total – 195 active – four hospitalized)
Houston has no new cases (154 total – 12 active – none hospitalized)
Winona added eight cases (1,024 total – no other info provided).

STATE TOTALS
Wisconsin: 138,698 cases, 7,951 hospitalizations, 1,415 deaths
Minnesota: 106,651 cases, 8,089 hospitalizations, 2,101 deaths
Iowa: 94,615 cases, 1,415 deaths

Statewide, Wisconsin added another 2,319 cases, 141 hospitalizations and 16 deaths.

The old single-day high for hospitalizations was 109 set Oct. 1. The state had 108 on Tuesday.

The state is averaging 93 new hospitalizations a day the past week, as Gov. Tony Evers announced a field hospital at the state fairgrounds will open Oct. 14, because hospitals are nearly overwhelmed with cases.

Wisconsin is also averging 2,346 cases a day the past week.

In Minnesota, another 918 cases, 69 hospitalizations and 14 deaths. The state had a near-record 80 hospitalizations on Tuesday.

Iowa added 919 cases, 15 deaths in a 24-hour period that ended at 10 a.m. Wednesday.

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds is evoking President Donald Trump in saying, “We can’t let COVID-19 dominate our lives,” despite cases surging and a record number of hospitalizations.

Reynolds insists the health care system can handle the increase and no further action is needed to reduce infections. There were 444 people being treated for the coronavirus in hospitals as of Wednesday morning.