Data Notes for the Week of October 1

Today we released this week’s data snapshot. If you’re new to the data snapshot, we publish a weekly summary of the status for each of our metrics (you can find past issues on our data and metrics page). We have a few notes for this week’s issue:

Dane County’s 14-day average number of cases has declined from last week.

Cases per day ranged from 83 to 276 with an average of 139 cases per day. Last week’s average number of cases per day was 179. In this 14-day period there were 1,943 total cases.

Of the 1,204 non-UW cases in this 14-day period, 144 (12%) were associated with a cluster: 51 from workplaces, 22 from bars and restaurants, 18 from sports teams, 16 from childcare facilities, 13 from congregate facilities, 8 from college-aged housing (including apartment complexes with 10 or more cases and non-UW dorms), 7 from churches, 4 from health care facilities 2 from schools, 2 from funerals, and 1 from a house party.

• Of the 51 workplace cluster cases, 46 were from more public-facing and 5 were from less public-facing workplaces.
• Of the 40 total cases from childcare facilities and schools, 19 were children and 21 were adults.

A single case in a congregate living facility (e.g., long term care facilities), a childcare facility, or a school initiates a facility investigation by our staff. These types of facilities are prone to outbreaks and can contain vulnerable populations. Our case investigators work with them to ensure they are following best safety practices. The goal is to prevent a cluster of cases from occurring within the facility.

In this 14-day period, there were 13 schools and 9 childcare facilities that had a single case but have so far prevented further spread from occurring.

UW-Madison students and staff made up 38% of Dane County cases, down from 65% last week.

During this 14-day period, 710 UW students and 29 staff (739 total) tested positive, making up 38% of our total cases. 60 (5%) of non-UW cases are students from other colleges.

Of the 739 UW cases in this 14-day period:

• 207 (28%) were linked to dorms
• 33 (5%) were linked to fraternities and sororities
• 210 (28%) were linked to apartment complexes on or near campus that have at least 10 or more cases
• 35 (5%) were associated with a cluster: 11 were from UW sports teams, 9 were from UW campus facilities such as dining halls, 6 were from restaurants and bars, 5 were from congregate facilities, 2 were from a house party, 1 was from a workplace, and 1 was from a childcare facility.

Note that these are not mutually exclusive: a student could, for example, live in a dorm but also be a member of a fraternity.

There have been numerous examples of UW students working in long-term care facilities, childcare, bars and restaurants, and other facilities while infectious. While we are not seeing large spikes in specific non-UW sectors, we know that the non-UW cases have significantly increased since the UW spike. Additionally, the 18-22 age group, which is representative of the UW student population age, is the only group that has fewer cases this week compared to last week. Every other age group has more cases this week compared to last week. 

The recommended target for grades 3-5 was not met this week.

The K-12 school metrics are detailed on our website. The Wisconsin Supreme Court issued an injunction that allows K-12 schools in Dane County to fully open for in-person instruction. We are disappointed in this decision and strongly urge all schools to continue voluntary phasing-in of classes for in-person instruction for grades 3-12. We will continue to update data weekly and advise schools on their reopening plans.

The lab timeliness and contact tracing metric continues to be red but is largely affected by lab timeliness.

Lab timeliness (how quickly labs are reported to us) and contact tracing (how quickly we can reach out to cases) are combined into one metric because lab timeliness directly affects contact tracing.

• During this period 48% of cases were contacted by public health within 48 hours of being tested.
• 21% of positive tests were reported to us within 24 hours.
• 78% of cases were interviewed within 24 hours of receiving their test result.