ROCK COUNTY, Wis.— With the Badger State now at two million vaccinated Wisconsinites, things seem to be looking up, but a recent spike in cases has health officials thinking otherwise.


What You Need To Know

  • The B.1.1.7 variant of the coronavirus is likely the leading strain across the state

  • Health officials are saying the biggest age group affected in the most recent spike is kids

  • After an outbreak at a Madison daycare of more than 30 kids and adults earlier this week, a Janesville daycare center is having to shut down over an outbreak as well

The B.1.1.7 variant of the coronavirus is likely the leading strain across the state. It’s more contagious and health officials are saying the biggest age group affected in the most recent spike is kids.

After an outbreak at a Madison daycare of more than 30 kids and adults earlier this week, a Janesville daycare center is having to shut down over an outbreak as well.

“We had an infant in our infant room test positive so to take a precaution we actually closed the shelter and are having our children and our staff quarantine for 14 days,” Community Action Inc. executive director, Marc Perry says.

Community Kids Learning Center is a daycare through Community Action Inc.

After both an infant and a staff member tested positive, they knew it was time to shut their doors for the next two weeks. Even though it may cause a headache for those in need of child care.

“With people getting vaccinated and our staff being vaccinated with all the precautions we are taking, especially with an infant having limited contact with other people, it was a bit of a surprise. But people need to know that we are not out of the woods yet when it comes to COVID. Cases are still spiking across the state and we have to be incredibly careful,” Perry says.

The Rock County Health Department says the number of child cases has doubled in the area and they are expecting more with this new strain if guidelines are not followed.

“We were having a very low amount of cases in February and early March and it just started to increase in the past couple weeks. The ages of the cases are a lot younger, school aged kids and people in their 20s,” Rock County Health Department public nurse, Anne Weirich says. 

The Community Kids Learning Center is expected to open back up for families in need on April 20, but until then cleaning and extra precautions will take place to keep their kids as safe as possible.