On July 17, the La Crosse County Health Department released that a La Crosse County resident passed away due to COVID-19 complications.

This is the first reported COVID-19 related death in La Crosse County. The resident was a male in his 70’s who was hospitalized due to COVID-19.

Additional information about the individual will not be released at this time to respect the privacy of his family.

As of June 16, there has been a total of 626 lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 in La Crosse County with 142 currently active COVID-19 cases.

If an individual tests positive or shows symptoms of COVID-19, the individual must stay home and avoid contact with anyone outside their household until three days with no fever, respiratory symptoms have improved (e.g. cough, shortness of breath), and 10 days since symptoms first appeared.

If an individual tests positive and is asymptomatic, the individual must stay home and avoid contact with anyone outside their household until 10 days have passed since the test and no symptoms have developed since testing positive.

The La Crosse County Health Department urges La Crosse residents to stay home if showing symptoms of COVID-19, wear a cloth mask when outside of the home, wash hands frequently with soap and water, and to practice physical distancing of six feet or more when around people who are not members of your household.

Symptoms of COVID-19 include fever, chills, runny nose, congestion, muscle or body aches, cough, tiredness, headache, new loss of taste or smell, nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea.

Visit the Coulee Region Compass at www.lacrossecounty.org/covid19compass for additional guidance.

“As always, it is important to remember that viruses don’t discriminate, and neither should we. We are all in this together. Let’s be kind and compassionate with one another,” said the La Crosse County Health Department.

The Racquet Press will be updating the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse community with additional information.