Campbellsport woman is 153rd to die from COVID-19 in Fond du Lac County, where transmission is 'high'

FOND DU LAC – The Fond du Lac County Health Department reported 441 new positive COVID-19 tests since last Friday, according to its Community Impact Dashboard.

As of Friday, the county's total positive case count since the pandemic hit the Fond du Lac area in March 2020 was up to 17,928 — an increase from 17,487 the previous Friday — and active cases are at 767 in the county, with 14 people hospitalized related to COVID-19.

To date, 17,008 people have been released from isolation measures, and the department has recorded 211,809 negative tests, an increase of 3,512 since the week before.

One additional COVID-19-related death was reported for the county, a 62-year-old Campbellsport woman who died Nov. 3. The total number of virus-related deaths in the county is 153.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ranks the county's transmission status as high.

The Safe Restart metrics report , updated on Mondays, shows the number of cases, contact tracing and hospitals' ability to care for patients without going into crisis standards in the yellow "proceed with caution" status. 

The criteria looking at testing and personal protective equipment availability are in the green "excellent" status, and no categories this week are in the red "of concern" status.

Fond du Lac County Health Officer Kim Mueller and SSM Health St. Agnes Hospital President Katherine Vergos will periodically provide COVID-19 updates on virus developments and other information via Zoom, with the next session scheduled for Nov. 29.

A link will be available on the Fond du Lac County Health Department and SSM Health Greater Fond du Lac Facebook pages.

Participants can ask questions through the Q&A function on Zoom or by emailing Jayce.Commo@ssmhealth.com ahead of time.

Future sessions will take place on Dec. 13 and Jan. 10.

The latest vaccine, testing information

Vaccine distribution is up to 53,032 county residents age 12 and older with at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine as of Thursday, which is 51.3% of the county population, according to state data.

Of those, 50,334 people — or 48.7% of the population — are fully vaccinated.

SSM Health Greater Fond du Lac will offer the Pfizer vaccine to pediatric patients ages 5 to 11 by appointment at three locations in the county: Fond du Lac Regional Clinic Pediatrics, 420 E. Division St., Fond du Lac; Fond du Lac Regional Clinic Pediatrics, 835 Parkside St., Ripon; and Fond du Lac Regional Clinic Family Medicine, 608 W. Brown St., Waupun.

Call 920-926-8400 to make an appointment for any of the locations.

Free, weekly mobile testing is available in Fond du Lac for county residents age 2 and older.

A mobile unit from Accelerated Clinical Laboratories will offer tests from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Mondays and Thursdays — apart from Thanksgiving day —at the Fond du Lac County Fairgrounds, 520 Fond du Lac Ave. 

The unit offers PCR confirmatory tests, which will give results in one to two days. Symptoms are not a requirement for the mobile testing, and appointments, insurance or identification are not necessary.

With the weather getting colder, testing has moved inside the Cow Palace, and masks will be required.

There will be an additional testing day from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Dec. 18.

Additionally, Agnesian HealthCare is testing symptomatic community members. Anyone with even minor symptoms is encouraged to call 920-926-8400 for testing information.

More information on testing and vaccines is available at fdlco.wi.gov.

Contact Daphne Lemke at dlemke@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @daphlemke.