LA CROSSE, Wis. (WKBT) — The La Crosse County Health Department and the city’s two health systems are fine-tuning their new, collaborative process to evaluate the status of COVID-19 in the county.
As was announced Aug. 7, representatives of the health department, Gundersen Health System and Mayo Clinic Health System are developing a system, replacing the Coulee Compass, to provide a snapshot of health data that schools, businesses, organizations and other stakeholders can consider as they plan their responses to the novel coronavirus pandemic.
They will participate in a weekly media briefing for the first few weeks to answer questions. The first one will take place at noon Friday, Aug. 14, and will be live-streamed on the health department’s Facebook page.
Following is the process the partners will follow to prepare each week’s update and recommendation
Timing
Tuesday – Data will be received.
Wednesday – Health department, Mayo and Gundersen partners will review the data and prepare recommendations.
Thursday – Health department, Gundersen and Mayo reps will share metrics and recommendations with community stakeholders, including schools and businesses.
Friday – Information will be shared with the community.
Primary metrics

• New case rate per 100,000 people (seven-day rolling average)
• New COVID hospitalization rate per 100,000 people (seven-day rolling average)
• Hospital capacity and capability for COVID care.

The following community indicators will be used to help determine recommendations.

• Percent of cases interviewed within two days.
• Percent of identified contacts traced.
• Percent of contacts reached within two days.
• Percent of daily testing goal met.
• Testing turnaround time
• Percent of positive tests.

After the transition to the new process, the weekly updates and recommendations will shift to news releases on Fridays to area media, along with posting the information on the health department’s COVID-19 page and sharing via social media channels.
The URL for the new collaborative site will be announced at the Aug. 14 media briefing.

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