COVID Case Count Remains High Over Last Week

By Travis Volz

The upward trend in new COVID infection continued in the last week, as 26 new cases were reported in the week of November 23-29.

That weekly total is just off the pace of the prior week, when 32 new infections were reported by the Washington County Health Department.

The last two weeks total of 58 new cases is the highest two-week total since the late-summer surge in August and September. The two-week total also eclipses the entire monthly total of 56 case in October.

November is on the way to having the highest total since last summer’s wave. Since the start of the month, a total of 96 new cases have been reported among county residents.

Though the new case numbers have seen an increase this month, local schools have managed to keep numbers low relative to the rest of the county population.

Last week, only two cases were among school-age residents. Two more cases were among children under five years of age.

The current wave of new cases has not yet resulted in a rise in hospitalizations, at least in Region 4, which includes Washington County and the Metro East.

While most of the rest of the state has more than 80 perent of intensive care bades in use, Region 4 is at 62 percent capacity. That is the lowest rate in the state.