COVID-19 Dashboard | Western Technical College

Western Technical College

COVID-19 Dashboard

Western's COVID-19 Dashboard is a source of information about cases that impact our campuses. The dashboard will be updated weekly on Wednesdays to reflect the number of active confirmed positive COVID-19 cases that have been reported by students and employees. These counts do not include cases of students or employees who have not been on campus during their period of communicability. This reporting will help inform continued decision-making related to campus operations.

Western has been more conservative than many other organizations with our precautions and Phased Return to Campus, and therefore our numbers are relatively low. If you have questions about the data in the dashboard, please contact us at covid19@westerntc.edu.

Current Active Confirmed Positive Cases

Updated 09/22/2021

Campus Location

Student Cases 
Total Active New This Week
La Crosse 3* 3
Black River Falls 0 0
Independence 0 0
Mauston 0 0
Sparta 0 0
Tomah 0 0
Viroqua 0 0
Total 3 3

*There is currently one student in isolation or quarantine in the Residence Hall.

Campus Location

Employee Cases 
Total Active New This Week
La Crosse 5 1
Regional Locations 0 0
Total 5 1

Notification of Confirmed Positive Cases

If you have tested positive for COVID-19, have been exposed to a person with COVID-19, or have symptoms, please:

  1. Stay home.
  2. Students notify your instructor, employees notify your supervisor.
  3. Fill out the COVID-19 Self-Reporting Form and a member of the COVID-19 Case Monitoring Team will contact you within 24 hours to obtain additional information and offer assistance.

Contact Tracing of COVID-19 Cases

In the event that you have been identified as someone who has been in close contact with a confirmed positive case of COVID-19, a member of the COVID-19 Case Monitoring Team will make every effort to notify you within 48 hours through established contact-tracing protocols. Here are some of the questions that you may be asked about your interactions during the infectious period:

  • Did you have direct physical contact with the person (e.g., hug, kiss, handshake)?
  • Were you within 6 feet of the person for more than 15 minutes? (This includes single encounters of more than 15 minutes OR multiple encounters within a single day adding up to more than 15 minutes.)
  • Could the person have had contact with any of your respiratory secretions (e.g. coughed/sneezed on, contact with dirty tissue, sharing a drinking glass, food or towels or other personal items)
  • Do you live with the person or did you stay overnight for at least one night in a household with the person (i.e., household contact)? 

Communications Plan for Positive Cases

Western Technical College will make every effort to be transparent about the number of current active COVID-19 positive cases that impact our campuses. In addition to updating the information on our online COVID-19 Dashboard, we will use the communications channels as outlined below, depending upon the situation.

Isolated Cases

  • Individual notification by the Contact Tracing Team via phone call

Multiple Cases in Classroom

  • Possible exposure – Notification to class members by the Case Response Team or the Dean/Associate Dean via phone call or email
  • Confirmed exposure – Notification to impacted individuals followed by notification of class members by the Case Response Team via phone call or email

Cluster Confirmed

  • If a building needs to be closed – RAVE Emergency Notification System, email, social media announcements
  • If a building/campus/college does not need to be closed – Email notification of cluster and reasons for not closing
  • If student services that were open are closed – Email notification of closure and alternative ways to reach services, social media announcements

Wide-Spread Confirmed

  • If a campus or regional location needs to be closed – RAVE, email, social media, news release announcements
  • If the college as a whole needs to be closed – RAVE, email, social media, news release announcements
  • If a building/campus/college does not need to be closed – Email notification and reasons for not closing
  • If student services that were open are closed – Email notification of closure and alternative ways to reach services

Definitions of Terms Used

Confirmed case – a person who has laboratory confirmation of COVID-19 infection, with or without symptoms

Isolated cases – one or more confirmed cases that are not connected

Cluster of cases – 3 or more confirmed cases clustered in time, class/building location, and/or by common exposures

Wide-spread outbreak – cluster that goes beyond single area or location at the same time

Close contact – direct physical contact, within 6 feet of confirmed case for longer than 15 minutes (cumulative) with use of proper PPE; in the same vicinity of confirmed case for longer than 15 minutes without use of proper PPE; or living with or staying overnight in a household with a person who is a confirmed positive

Self- Isolation (confirmed positive test result OR symptoms associated with COVID-19) – remain at home or isolation location and separate yourself from others in the household/location in every way possible

Quarantine (exposure/close contact to person with COVID-19) – remain at home or quarantine location and do not go into the community or to a Western facility or Western related activity; monitor for symptoms twice daily including taking your temperature 

Links to Other Data Sources

Contact Us

Have questions or concerns related to Western’s COVID-19 precautions and preventive measures? Contact Western's COVID-19 Monitoring Team:

COVID-19 Self-Reporting Form