Wisconsin builds up public health workforce

Wisconsin continues to build up its public health workforce to help with contact tracing in response to COVID-19.

The Department of Health Services has trained 259 contact tracers that are currently working in the field, DHS Deputy Secretary Julie Willems Van Dijk told reporters Tuesday.

They’re onboarding 70 more, and an additional 50 are in training, she said.

The agency’s goal, under Gov. Tony Evers’ Badger Bounce Back plan, is 1,000 contact tracers between DHS and local public health agencies.

Willems Van Dijk said they’re also looking at how technology can help.

“Just think about what we’re aiming to do – if we conduct 85,000 tests per week, and 10 percent of them are positive as we’re seeing now, we will need to interview 8,500 people,” she said. “And if each of them have five contacts, that’s another 42,500 people to call. We’re not there yet, but we’re making progress.”

Willems Van Dijk also said they’re working on ramping up COVID-19 testing in the state. She noted that they’re using around 2,000 to 3,000 of the state’s daily capacity of 11,000 tests.

“Anyone with symptoms should contact their healthcare provider and ask to be tested,” she said.

Meanwhile, a planned facility at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison to handle a potential surge of COVID-19 patients has been placed on hold.

Willems Van Dijk said they’ve made contact with the Army Corps of Engineers and initial designs are done for the alternative care facility.

“Based on where we’re at with the pandemic, we don’t see an imminent need for that facility,” she said. “But if things should change, we can reinstitute those plans moving forward.”

The state has an alternative care facility set up at the Exposition Center at State Fair Park in West Allis.

There were 208 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 reported Tuesday by DHS. That brought the total to 6,289 positive cases. There were 63,535 negative test results.

There were 19 additional deaths, bringing the total to 300.

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