Navigating the Summer COVID-19 Wave

If you’ve noticed more people around you feeling ill with COVID, it’s not just a coincidence. Along with the heat, summer has brought an increase in COVID.

COVID activity in Dane County has been on a mostly upward trajectory since June.

Across the US and locally in Dane County there has been an uptick in COVID activity. COVID levels in Wisconsin wastewater, one of the best metrics for tracking community spread, has been on a mostly upward trajectory since the start of the summer.

Additionally, local emergency departments have been seeing an increase in visits due to COVID. Our Respiratory Illness Dashboard is a great tool to keep yourself up to date with what’s going on in our community and see the latest data.

CDC has all the details for how to protect yourself from illness and what to do if you get sick.

Back in March 2024, CDC updated their COVID guidance to align with that of other respiratory illnesses such as flu and RSV. We’ve summarized the guidance below:

Protect Yourself from Illness

• Stay up to date with immunizations, including COVID-19, RSV, and flu. Updated COVID-19 vaccines are coming from Pfizer, Moderna, and Novavax later this year for the 2024-2025 respiratory illness season. CDC recommends everyone ages 6 months and older receive one once they are available to protect against serious illness from COVID-19.
• Practice good hygiene by washing your hands often, covering your mouth and nose when you cough or sneeze, and cleaning high-touch surfaces regularly.
• Increase the amount of clean air, which includes things like opening doors and windows and using fans, properly maintaining HVAC systems, using HEPA air purifiers, and moving activities outside.
• Take extra steps if there’s high respiratory illness activity, you’ve been exposed, or you/people around you are immunocompromised, like wear a mask, distance yourself from others, and use rapid tests.

Know What to Do if You’re Sick

1. Stay home from work and other activities until you’re feeling better and fever-free for at least 24 hours AND
2. After resuming normal activities, take extra precautions for the next five days to prevent spreading illness to others. This includes wearing a well-fitting mask and maintaining distance from others.

You may have noticed that we no longer have web pages that are specific to COVID-19. This is because we have combined our recommendations for COVID, flu, RSV, and some other respiratory illness, just like the CDC. See our Respiratory Illness page for more info.

Preventing the spread of COVID-19 and other respiratory viruses in your community setting (childcare, business, summer camp)

Our website offers some strategies for community settings to prevent the spread of respiratory illnesses such as COVID. Strategies include things like:

• Having accessible and well-stocked handwashing and sanitizing stations
• Increasing cleaning of frequently touched surfaces
• Ensuring proper ventilation
• Providing free, high-quality masks
• Offering flexible sick leave and telework options; avoiding penalization for absence due to illness

As a reminder, COVID outbreaks are still reportable conditions. See our Disease Reporting page for more information.