COVID Surge Prompts Masking Requirement At Western Dubuque Schools

COVID-19 activity has surged in Dubuque County over the past week, particularly among children. That includes an outbreak at Western Dubuque High School that prompted officials to institute a temporary mask mandate. State data shows 315 more Dubuque County residents were confirmed to have the coronavirus from October 6th to Wednesday, the highest weekly total since the State of Iowa went to once-weekly reporting of county-level data in July. That comes to 45 new cases per day over that span. When the state still reported data daily, the last time Dubuque County had more than 45 cases in a single day was in early April. Meanwhile, Western Dubuque High School reported 85 active cases of COVID-19 among students on Wednesday, prompting school leaders to enact a masking requirement for the campus. The high school will continue to require masks until its positivity rate drops below 3% of the 1,063 students and staff in the building.