Evers’ administration steps up testing, contact tracing in Brown County

Gov. Tony Evers administration is sending another 2,500 COVID-19 test kits to Brown County this week and ramping up contact tracing efforts as it continues to deal with an outbreak linked to several meat processing facilities in the area.

Department of Health Services Secretary-designee Andrea Palm said testing will expand to family members of workers at impacted facilities, and then more broadly to the community. The new testing resources are on top of 2,200 test kits that were surged to the county last week.

The county has also referred 196 positive cases to the department’s contact tracing team, according to Palm.

Another 77 COVID-19 cases were confirmed in Brown County on Monday, bringing the total to 853.

Evers said the situation in Brown County “underscores” the importance of taking a statewide approach to his safer-at-home order – at least for now.

“An outbreak in a rural area where access to healthcare is already affected, and healthcare resources are scarce, could have the potential to severely overwhelm local government and local health workers,” he said. “We don’t want that to happen.”

Evers said the state saw its highest single-day increase of COVID-19 cases over the weekend, and Palm said positive cases as a percentage of total tests are still on an upward trajectory.

Palm reported 170 new COVID-19 cases statewide Monday, bringing the total to 6,081. There have now been 281 deaths, an increase of nine from Sunday. There have been 61,311 negative test results.

She said hospital emergency rooms are seeing a slight downward trend in visits for COVID-19 and influenza symptoms. But the changes are not statistically significant enough to get the green light on a dashboard launched Friday marking the state’s progress towards Evers’ benchmarks for reopening the state’s economy.

Palm added that DHS is working with hospitals to develop methods to measure hospital capacity, which is another benchmark in Evers’ Badger Bounce Back plan.

Meanwhile, Evers announced a “turn of the dial” Monday, authorizing several new nonessential businesses to reopen.

Evers said that dog groomers, small engine repair shops and other businesses that could offer curbside drop-off options can re-open, as can outdoor recreational rentals and some car washes.

Evers said he believes these are “one-off issues” where contact is limited.

“There are enough control factors involved that we believe it’s a safe expansion going forward,” he said.

The new order goes into effect at 8 a.m. on Wednesday.

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