Yesterday afternoon, Public Health of Madison and Dane County released their new Data Snapshot for October 6 – October 19 which showed the spread of COVID-19 Dane County has shifted outside of Madison.
In September, according to the data, only 28 percent of cases resided outside of Madison, but current data from October reveal that has now increased to 58 percent of cases. This morning, Madison365 has updated our weekly map to showcase the increase in the number of cases in the county by census tract for the weeks of October 8 – October 22.
From October 6 – October 19, there were 2,343 total cases. Of those cases, 1,880 were fully interviewed, which found:
- 36 percent of cases had household contact with another COVID-19 case
- 29 percent of cases had non-household contact with another COVID-19 case
- 27 percent of cases attended a gathering or party in the past two weeks
Of cases from UW during this time period, 174 students tested positive along with 32 staff, making the university’s 14-day average of new cases 14.7 cases per day. UW made up only nine percent of all cases in the two-week period covered by the snapshot. As recently as 9/17, UW had a 14 day average of 138 cases per day.
For October 6 – October 19, Dane County has averaged 167 cases per day, an increase from last week’s 133. As of October 20, the 14 day average for non-UW cases is at 156 cases per day. The data also shows, for this two week period, that the percentage of positive tests for the most recent 14 days has increased to 3.9 percent from last week’s 3.3 percent.
This spread also comes at a time when PHMDC reported earlier this week that they would be focused on a crisis model for contacting tracing. According to data collected from Public Health of Madison and Dane County, contact tracing hit a low of 36 percent for those two weeks – down from 48 percent the previous week. The number of positive cases interviewed within 24 hours of receiving their results was alsi down from 65 percent last week to 43 percent.
The snapshot included a look at hospitalizations, which have continued to grow in Dane County as well as across the state. Though only 54 people were hospitalized in that two-week period, those who identify as Hispanic or Latinx continue to be over represented in the data for both cases and hospitalizations. The Hispanic or Latinx community make up six percent of the population in Dane County which was in line with representation in testing this week. However, Hispanic or Latinx residents were 12 percent of cases and 11 percent of hospitalizations for October 6 through October 19. Black people in our county also were over-represented in cases and underrepresented in testing. With six percent of the population, Black people only accounted for five percent of testing, but seven percent of cases and six percent of hospitalizations. Those who identify as Asian were also underrepresented in testing and cases, making up seven percent of the population, but only four percent in testing and three percent in cases. In comparison, all other ethnic groups are underrepresented in cases and hospitalizations for that same time period.
Hospitalizations among age groups continue to increase in the County as 2 percent of cases from October 6 through October 19 were hospitalized with those 70 and older making up 17 percent of cases.
In terms of age groups for that two week period – ages 0-4 and adults in their 90s had the largest percentage increase from last week according to the update, though those aged 23-29 and those aged 30-39 still had the largest percentage of cases with 16 percent each.
Madison365 will have an update on the Dane County has soon as they are able to update their Dashboard and will have updated numbers from the state later this afternoon.
