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Students can fill out survey to express interest; Others are welcome to help with planning and implementation

A committee of parents of junior and senior students at Waukon High School have been “meeting” during the past couple weeks to try to organize a summer Prom-like event for members of those two grade levels since the April 25 Waukon High School Prom was canceled due to the Coronavirus pandemic. A Facebook group was set up in March for parents of students in those grades, and meeting times and dates have been made known through that Facebook group.

“I think parents want their child to still have a Prom experience and for their child to have a positive memory of this time when we are dealing with the virus,” stated parent and committee member Jo Ann Sherman.

The board of directors of the Big Four Fair held annually in Postville and scheduled to celebrate its 100th year this year June 19-21 has decided to postpone that annual celebration until next year. The board released the following statement in regard to not holding the fair at all this year due to current restrictions regarding the COVID-19 pandemic:

“It is with great sadness we announce that due to the circumstances related to the coronavirus, the Big Four Fair Board has made the tough decision to postpone this year’s fair. The health and safety of our exhibitors, our vendors and our guests is our highest priority and postponing the fair (to next year) gives us that peace of mind.

We look forward to having a safe and wonderful fair next year, June 18-20, 2021, celebrating our 100th fair. This year’s plan will happen next year. Thank You.”
 

Allamakee County Public Health’s highest priority is the health and well-being of the community. Their health department strongly encourages everyone to follow all Iowa Department of Public Health and CDC guidelines to help prevent contracting or spreading the virus.
With the recent release of the Allamakee County COVID-19 statistics by zip code, many phone calls and reports have been received by Allamakee County Public Health by people concerned that businesses and citizens in areas with few cases are no longer taking the personal protective precautions to keep themselves safe from contracting the virus. Allamakee County Public Health strongly encourages the continuation of all safety precautions.

Through his experience as a State of Iowa employee and his leverage as an elected city official, Waukon City Councilman John Ellingson has helped secure the consistent reporting of case count updates from Allamakee County Public Health broken down by zip code within the county. Allamakee County Public Health receives its information from the Iowa Department of Public Health but admitted to Ellingson that there may be a lag time of several days between the complexity of numbers reported to Allamakee County Public Health and the overall more general information the State of Iowa is updating on a daily basis on its website dedicated to coronavirus statistics and information, www.coronavirus.iowa.gov.

A relatively quiet past week of a comparatively low count of new COVID-19 cases in Allamakee County received a couple unsettling jolts both early and late in the week. Those jolts included the fourth death of an Allamakee County resident attributed to complications from COVID-19 to start last week, and a one-day double-digit jump in new positive cases reported later in the week that seemed to coincide with targeted testing in the area and accounted for 10 of this past week’s 14 new cases - the lowest total number of new cases reported for the county by the State of Iowa in a week’s time since early April, one month ago.

The Allamakee County Emergency Management Agency and the AgriStar meat processing facility in Postville released a joint statement last week regarding selective COVID-19 testing completed at the AgriStar facility Tuesday, May 5. That May 5 testing was conducted at AgriStar in cooperation with the Iowa Department of Public Health and other State of Iowa agencies.

According to the release, AgriStar had requested the testing in April but was unable to have testing done until early May due to testing being conducted in other facilities across the state of Iowa with much larger employee populations and a considerable number of initial positive cases being reported at those facilities. The May 5 testing was requested as an additional step in the plant’s efforts to protect its employees and ensure its ability to continue operations, and the testing is not part of the Test Iowa Initiative.

by David M. Johnson

For the last several weeks the nation has been turned upside down due to the onslaught of the COVID-19 affliction. Businesses have been shut down, the medical community has been overwhelmed, people have been shuttered in their homes, and a number of citizens have either become gravely ill or have succumbed to the dark side of this illness.

A number of states have completely shut down all activity except those deemed essential to the security and well-being of the state. Iowa has resisted the siren song to join others and completely shut her doors until this shadow of this zoonotic scourge has impacted all lives.

Mark Reiser, a resident of rural Allamakee County living between Waukon and Lansing, has announced his candidacy for the Allamakee County Board of Supervisors. One seat on the Allamakee County Board of Supervisors will be up for election in November of this year and both the Democrat and Republican ballots will each have two candidates squaring off in this year’s June 2 primary for the nomination of their respective party to then square off in that November election.

Reiser was born and raised in Allamakee County. He and his wife, Nancy, have raised four daughters on their family dairy farm that they operated for 31 years, currently working a beef and crop farming operation. “We make it a priority to keep our business local, “Reiser said. “It is important, especially in these times.”

Community members, organizations and businesses challenged to help meet $3500 grant match by ACCF

The Allamakee County Community Foundation (ACCF) and Allamakee County Emergency Medical Services (EMS) are partnering to help reduce COVID-19 community spread. Those agencies are looking for help from the communities they serve in order to make that possible.

The Community Foundation has announced it will match up to $3,500 in donations from individuals, organizations and local businesses toward the purchase of ultraviolet (UV) lights for six ambulances throughout Allamakee County and a larger UV light for use at Veterans Memorial Hospital in Waukon. These UV lights (an example of which is pictured in the accompanying photo) can be used for efficient, safe room sanitation in as little as 10 minutes, and can be remotely activated. This greatly shortens sanitation time and allows medical spaces to be occupied much more quickly following patient use.

Reported as of Monday, May 4 by Allamakee County and Iowa Public Health

Total confirmed cases to date: 99
Cases requiring hospitalization: 7 total, 4 currently
Deaths due to COVID-19: 3
Cases recovered/off isolation: 63
Cases currently recovering in self-isolation: 29
Number of tests sent to State Hygienic Lab (SHL)**: 122
Number of negative tests processed at SHL: 85
Number of tests pending at SHL: 2