In light of growing COVID-19 numbers in Wisconsin, state Superintendent of Public Instruction Jill Underly is calling for schools to require mask-wearing, offer school-based vaccination and booster clinics, participate in school-based testing programs, and adopt the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s updated quarantine and isolation guidance for K-12 schools.
Underly’s recommendations, issued in a letter Monday, came after Wisconsin Chief Medical Officer Dr. Ryan Westergaard and Wisconsin State Health Officer Paula Tran sent recommendations to all the state’s school district administrators informing them of further resources and support to implement layered mitigation measures in light of rising COVID-19 cases.
“We are experiencing an unprecedented surge in COVID-19 cases in Wisconsin as the Omicron variant spreads here in our state and across the globe,” Underly wrote. “The seven-day average of new confirmed cases has increased nearly 150% in the past two weeks, with children under 18 representing the highest number of new cases. We must all continue working together to protect our students and school staff from COVID-19 so we can keep our students healthy and engaged in learning.”
Rock County again reached a record number of active cases of COVID-19 on Monday, reporting 3,673, according to Rock County Public Health Department data.
The county had 159 new reported cases of COVID-19 on Monday, according to county health data. The total number of cases in the county since the pandemic began reached 27,405 and the total amount of deaths reached 257. The case rate per 100,000 people was 1,184.
The percentage of the population fully vaccinated was 62.9%.
There were 60 people receiving treatment for COVID-19 as inpatients in Rock County hospitals as of Jan. 6.
As of Monday, the average new cases per day in Wisconsin for the past seven days has been 9,063. The seven-day average of deaths per day in the state has been 28 and the seven day average state positivity rate was 27%.
On Jan. 4, there was a seven-day average of 1,784 people in hospital in Wisconsin due to COVID-19. There are 91.5% of the state’s hospital beds in use and 94.8% of intensive-care beds in use in the state.
As of Monday, the latest data available as of press time, 58.5% of the total Wisconsin population had completed the vaccine series.
