Dane County reaches ‘substantial’ level of community transmission of COVID, by CDC

MADISON, Wisconsin – Just as local health officials warned a day earlier, Dane County has met the CDC’s definition for substantial community transmission for COVID-19.

In the CDC’s daily update, Dane County went from “moderate” levels of community transmission to “substantial” on Friday. It comes a day after Rock County hit the same threshold, and Dane County and Madison County officials have warned the numbers are moving in that direction for them as well.

In its updated guidelines released earlier this week, the CDC recommended that communities with substantial or high levels of community transmission return to wearing masks in all indoor public spaces, including people who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

Madison and Dane County Public Health made the preventative decision to recommend masks to everyone on Monday, even though the county had not yet reached that threshold. Rock County made its recommendation on Friday.

At this point, none of the health departments have made it a warrant, although Dane County officials did not rule out the possibility earlier this week.

Dane and Rock counties join Sauk, Columbia, Dodge, Jefferson and Walworth as surrounding counties in the large gap category. Green, Lafayette, and Iowa counties are still in the moderate spread category, while Grant County is the only one in Wisconsin considered to have low levels of community transmission. Meanwhile, Waukesha, Milwaukee, and Ozaukee counties are in the high transmission category.

While the vaccine largely prevents death and serious illness from COVID, as evidenced by the number of COVID deaths in the state in recent months, there is growing evidence that the Delta variant can still be caught and transmitted by fully vaccinated people, even if they have few or no symptoms. .

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