The number of active COVID-19 cases in Brown County has seen a significant decline since last month’s surge with the Brown County Health Department reporting only 12 active cases in the county on Feb. 22.
Active COVID-19 cases in Brown County stood at 206 on Jan. 11, bringing the county’s total number of confirmed cases to 8,632 with 8,289 of those being recovered cases, according to information from the Brown County Health Department.
“We have seen a significant decline in active cases in the county,” said Brown County Health Commissioner Kyle Arn. “In January of this year, we had a total of 2,587 positive cases. That is more cases than the entire year of 2020. The increased numbers for January were primarily the result of the Omicron surge, which spread rapidly, but with milder symptoms, seems to be declining just as rapidly. As of February 16th, there are 309 cases total for this month. Even though these numbers are a lot less than last month, they are still higher than some previous months last year. However, I feel with the downward trend, we are heading in the right direction.”
Although COVID-19 cases have significantly declined since last month, some still need to take precautions.
“I feel the level of precautions that people need to take in public really depends on a few things, such as their own personal health, the health of those they plan to visit or be around, and their own vaccination status or recent COVID recovery. Even with lower numbers, COVID hasn’t went away, so I think everyone should take that into consideration,” said Arn.
The drop in COVID-19 cases this month has provided a bit of relief for nursing staff at the Brown County Health Department coming off an extremely busy January.
“The nursing staff were extremely busy in January trying to keep up with the positive cases, which were averaging over 80 per day. The drop of cases has definitely given them a little breathing room in order to focus on the other services they provide to county,” said Arn.