Dunn County may now have community spread of COVID-19

By LeAnn R. Ralph

MENOMONIE  — Dunn County may now have “community spread” of the COVID-19 coronavirus, according to KT Gallagher, director/health officer of the Dunn County Public Health Department.

Gallagher gave her weekly update on COVID-19, which is broadcast and archived on Facebook, on Thursday, April 9, and as of that afternoon, Dunn County had eight confirmed cases, while Wisconsin had 2,885 positive cases, 111 deaths, and 31,000 who had tested negative.

Community spread of a virus means that the source of how someone became infected cannot be determined through contact tracing.

Dunn County does have one case that cannot be linked to travel or to close contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19, Gallagher said.

As of Thursday afternoon, Dunn County was still waiting for the results of 75 tests for the coronavirus, she said.

In hindsight, when pending test results come back, it may be that the person who appears to have had no contact may in fact have had contact with someone else who is infected, Gallagher said.

The person who tested positive for COVID-19 with no known travel or close contacts may also have been infected by someone who is asymptomatic, she said.

One of the reasons COVID-19 spreads so quickly is that people start shedding the virus and infecting others before they show any symptoms themselves and also because some people are asymptomatic and never show any symptoms of the virus.

Of the eight positive cases in Dunn County, it is case number six that cannot be accounted for, Gallagher said.

Since it is possible there is community spread of COVID-19 in Dunn County, it is even more important for people to stay home, she said.

Of the eight confirmed cases of COVID-19, two have recovered. One person was tested in late March, and the public health department only received confirmation that it was a positive test result the day before the April 9 update, although that person has been self-quarantining since being tested, Gallagher said.

One person from Dunn County remains hospitalized, and the remaining five people are self-quarantining and staying in isolation at home, she said.

Parks

As part of her weekly update, Gallagher answers questions that people submit to the Dunn County Public Health Department.

One question noted playgrounds and parks can be places where COVID-19 can be spread because of “high touch” areas.

People should not be getting together at parks to do activities like play Frisbee golf, Gallagher said.

Team sports are prohibited by the governor’s Safer at Home order, she said.

Since playgrounds have many  high touch areas, in Menomonie, certain playground equipment has been cordoned off to indicate that it cannot be used, and signs have been put in other places around the playgrounds, Gallagher said.

Babysitting

One person asked whether it would be all right to babysit if the babysitter wore a mask.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued guidelines that people should wear a mask when going out in public to help stop the spread of COVID-19.

The masks are not intended, necessarily, to keep people from getting sick, but to keep infected people from spreading the virus.

If the child who is going to be babysat is not a member of the household, then no, someone should not be wearing a mask to go outside of the household to babysit, Gallagher said.

Gallagher said she realized that people in some circumstances would have a difficult time taking care of their children while also trying to take care of necessary errands, such as buying groceries.

Safer at Home asks people to limit their visits to the grocery store, she noted.

Some grocery stores are offering a service allowing people to call in their grocery order, pay for it by credit card, and then grocery store employees will fill the order, bring it out to the car and load it into the trunk, Gallagher said.

Using the grocery store service would be one way for people to limit their trips into the grocery store and keep their children safe in the car, thereby eliminating the need for a babysitter, and also limiting the exposure of grocery store workers, she said.

Restrictions lifted

One person wanted to know if Gallagher had a confirmed date when the Safer at Home restrictions would be lifted.

Gallagher said much would depend on how the virus progresses.

Some models predict the peak of the COVID-19 cases in Wisconsin will come somewhere between April 23 and May 23, she said.

Another model predicts the peak will be April 14, but Gallagher said she believed the peak would be later than that.

In addition, the peak in Wisconsin may not reflect the peak in Dunn County, Gallagher said.

A related question asked how the Safer at Home order would be lifted — all at once or gradually?

Gallagher said she had not yet received any guidance from the state, and people should be prepared for “stop and go” lifting of the restrictions.

In Japan, officials eased up on social distancing and then there was an increase in COVID-19 cases, so more social distancing was put into place again, she said.

Enough?

One question wondered whether we are doing enough in Dunn County to stay safe from the virus.

Staying at home is the best way to avoid the coronavirus, Gallagher said.

People also must take good care of themselves and pay attention to the three “goods”: good sleep, good food and good exercise, she said.

Strong social isolation decreases the number of cases of COVID-19 and helps spread and flatten the curve on the peak in cases, Gallagher said.

Safer at Home also is intended to help prevent overwhelming the healthcare system, she said.

Three parameters are considered: the number of hospital beds available, the number of intensive care units that are available, and the number of ventilators that are available, Gallagher said.

If the healthcare system is overwhelmed, people with COVID-19 cannot get the care they need, and other emergencies, such as people suffering from a heart attack or a stroke, also cannot get the care they need.

Immunity

One person asked about abandoning social distancing and just letting people be exposed to the coronavirus to build “herd immunity.”

Herd immunity refers to the number of individuals who have already been infected, at a high enough rate, so that those who do not have immunity have a very low chance of contracting the disease.

Great Britain tried just letting people be exposed, but that kind of an approach leads to soon overwhelming the health care system, Gallagher said.

Measles, for example, spreads easily by airborne droplets, and to achieve herd immunity, 95 percent of people would already have to have been infected or have had a vaccination, she said.

Pertussis, on the other hand, is more difficult to spread, and herd immunity is achieved when 70 to 80  percent of the people have either been infected or have had a vaccination, Gallagher said.

As more is learned about COVID-19 and how quickly it spreads, achieving herd immunity through vaccination rather than infection seems like the better idea, she said, noting that if people are exposed to the disease they can still pass it on to others, but when they are vaccinated, they would not be able to pass it on.

Good job?

One question wondered if residents in Dunn County are doing a good job at flattening the curve of the spread of COVID-19.

The slope is coming down, but it is not flat yet, Gallagher said.

Only in hindsight will we be able to know how successful we were in flattening the curve, she said.

“If you have symptoms, stay home,” Gallagher said.

Anyone who is suffering any kind of symptoms, no matter how mild, even if they are essential workers, should stay home, she said.

“We must keep our germs to ourselves,” Gallagher said.

Gallagher emphasized that it is important for people to be kind to others and to be kind to themselves.

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services website, on the COVID-19 page, has suggestions for how to cope under Resilient Wisconsin. The disaster help line is available as well at 1-800-985-5590. The national suicide prevention hotline can be reached at 1-800-273-8255, Gallagher said.

For women who are pregnant or who have children under the age of four years, the Dunn County Women, Infants and Children (WIC) office can help and can be reached at 715-232-2498, she said.

Gallagher also suggested people should reach out to their friends and neighbors to find out how they are doing.