The latest COVID-19 information from Winneshiek County Public Health

Winneshiek County Public Health Director Krista Vanden Brink gave Winneshiek County Supervisors a report Monday morning about COVID-19 cases in the county.

"We have a fair number of cases we're following," she told supervisors, adding that while there have been no hospitalizations so far because of the cases, the patients are not concentrated in any one part of the county.

The County Health Department so far is handling all contact tracings internally.  That includes contract tracing for long term care facility staff, but not for long term care patients--those contacts are handled by the facility itself.

Vanden Brink says nursing homes are "an area of concern," especially the issue of maintaining adequate staffing while some staff members going into two-week quarantine.  When it comes to preventing future cases, "each of us is responsible," said Vanden Brink, who urged the public to continue doing handwashing, using face masks and practicing social distancing.