By Jalen Maki
Tomahawk Leader Editor
TOMAHAWK – In its weekly COVID-19 update released on Wednesday, Aug. 11, the Lincoln County Health Department (LCHD) provided data on case numbers, testing, and vaccination rates.
In the report, LCHD cited data from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS), the Wisconsin Electronic Disease Surveillance System, and the Wisconsin Immunization Registry.
Case, testing data
According to the report, case activity levels in both Lincoln County and Wisconsin were “high” as of Aug. 11.
“Case activity is a combination of burden and trajectory,” according to DHS. “‘Burden’ is the total number of COVID-19 cases per 100,000 Wisconsin residents in the last two weeks. ‘Trajectory’ is the percent case change from the previous to the current week and indicates whether the change is statistically significant.”
In Lincoln County, between July 28 and Aug. 10, Lincoln County’s case burden was 161.7, considered “high.” However, there was no significant change in trajectory.
As of Aug. 11, 3,125 people had tested positive for COVID-19 in Lincoln County, an increase of 25 cases since the week prior. 14,414 people had tested negative, an increase of 88 negative tests since the previous week.
There were 21 active COVID-19 cases in Lincoln County as of Aug. 11, six more than the 15 reported the week before.
LCHD said a person is counted as a probable COVID-19 case or death if they are not positive (confirmed) by a confirmatory laboratory test method (ex: PCR or NAT test), but have met one of the following:
- Test positive using an antigen test method.
- Have symptoms of COVID-19 and known exposure to COVID-19 (ex: being a close contact of someone who was diagnosed with COVID-19).
- COVID-19 or SARS-CoV-2 is listed on the death certificate.
As of Aug. 11, there had been 226 probable cases of COVID-19 in Lincoln County, an increase of four since the week prior. Six probable cases were active, doubling from the three active probable cases reported the previous week.
145 people had been hospitalized due to COVID-19 in Lincoln County as of Aug. 11, according to the report.
68 people in Lincoln County had died of COVID-19 as of Aug. 11, and there were an additional 28 probable deaths, the report said.
There had been no COVID-19-related deaths reported in Lincoln County between July 1 and Aug. 11.
3,024 people in the county had recovered from COVID-19 as of Aug. 11. 3,005 had recovered as of the week before, an increase of 19.
191 people with probable cases of COVID-19 had recovered, an increase of one from the previous week.
Vaccination data
Lincoln County’s vaccination rate was below 50% as of Aug. 11.
According to the report, 12,902 people in the county (46.8%) had received at least one vaccine dose, while 12,315 people (44.6%) were fully vaccinated.
226 vaccines doses had been administered in the county between Aug. 4 and Aug. 11, and 70 people had completed their vaccine series in that time.
A “breakthrough” case occurs when a fully vaccinated person tests positive for COVID-19. There had been 13 breakthrough cases of COVID-19 in Lincoln County as of Aug. 11.
The 13 breakthrough cases accounted for about 0.1% of fully vaccinated individuals in Lincoln County, and none of the individuals were hospitalized.
More information available on LCHD website
For more information regarding COVID-19 in Lincoln County, visit www.co.lincoln.wi.us/health/page/novel-coronavirus-covid-19.