Vilas County public health director Laurel Dreger has seen a recent increase in COVID-19 cases jumping from 12 active to 20 and then down to 13 cases county-wide.
“We had one whole family that came down with COVID-19 at the same time and that led to the increase, but recovery has again lowered our active cases,” Dreger said last week. “As of Monday, July 13 we had 2,385 recovered cases with 2,446 cases testing positive and 10,773 testing negative, but unfortunately we also have had 45 deaths.”
Dreger indicated there are 54% (11,984) of the county residents that have received at least one dose and 51% that competed the vaccine series. “One of the most vulnerable age group are those 65 and older and almost 85% have had at least one dose and 82% have completed the series,” she reported. “Of those that completed the series 54.5% were female and 47.7% were male.”
For those who are not vaccinated, a number of reasons are given. These includes most often a personal choice of the individual, some with medical reasons, and a few with religious reasons. Dreger indicated some persons who had the disease feel they now have immunity and choose not to get vaccinated.
“We had very good cooperation with the youth camps in the county with many counselors vaccinated,” Dreger said. “So far there have been no outbreaks in our camps. Our schools determine what actions they will take for protecting youth, if they feel it necessary, with the Center for Disease Control providing many options for them to consider.”
There are four variants of the disease with the Delta variant being the most active and most easily transmitted.
“This variant seems to be more contagious and causes more severe illness and is more difficult to treat using known therapies,” Dreger said. “There have been 26 cases of the Delta variant identified in Wisconsin since last April but none in Vilas County.”
Dreger wanted to emphasize the need to get vaccinated since if a person gets COVID-19 they could develop the fifth variant which might be more contagious than the Delta variant. The Health Department web page updates COVID-19 data at least twice weekly.
