DHS releases map on testing sites, other COVID-19 updates
The Department of Health Services released a searchable map Wednesday to connect Wisconsinites with testing site locations, contact information hours of operation and how to schedule appointments.
The agency will update the map daily with information about new testing sites in the state.
“We’ve made great progress in expanding our testing capacity these last few weeks, and now we’re taking the next step to help connect Wisconsinites who have symptoms of COVID-19 to testing sites in their communities,” Evers said in a statement.
A report released Wednesday by a team of epidemiologists found that 54 people in Milwaukee who voted or worked the polls during the April 7 election were diagnosed with COVID-19. Some of the cases may have been infected before voting, others while doing so and some may have been infected in other activities not connected to the election, the report noted.
“At this point and time, we have an inconclusive relationship between the election that took place on April 7 and the spread of COVID-19,” said Ann Christiansen, director of the North Shore Health Department.
She told reporters that there were mitigation efforts and protection efforts that took place to prevent the spread of the disease, including the use of personal protective equipment and social distancing.
Milwaukee County has had 203 deaths from the disease, with 3,601 cases reported as of Thursday morning. That’s the highest number of cases in a county in the state followed by Brown County.
Brown County Public Health spokeswoman Claire Paprocki said they have a total of 1,635 confirmed cases in the county. Oneida Nation is reporting 14 confirmed cases. There have been 11 deaths.
Paprocki said 39 percent of their cases have come from the meatpacking industry.
“It’s extremely important to note that COVID-19 is not an industry-specific industry nor is one facility in Brown County to blame for the outbreak,” Paprocki told reporters. “Continuing to focus on one industry does not provide the public with an accurate representation of what is occurring in our community. Community spread is the issue.”
JBS Packerland, which closed last month amid a cluster of COVID-19 cases, has reopened with a reduced staff. All team members are being tested before returning to work and operations are expected to normalize over time as absenteeism rates decline in response to the preventive measures and as members clear quarantine protocols, per a company spokesman.
Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., questioned JBS and other meatpacking companies like Smithfield Foods and Tyson Foods, on how they’re keeping employees safe in a Wednesday letter.
“Workers at meat processing plants are on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic and they deserve to be protected as they take on great personal risk to continue to go to work to ensure Americans’ food supply chain is not disrupted,” she wrote.
The number of confirmed cases in Wisconsin rose by 335 to 8,901 on Wednesday. There were nine additional deaths, bringing the total to 362.
A report from the Legislative Fiscal Bureau found an $870 million reduction in tax collections in April compared to the previous year. Collections are down $313 million for the first 10 months of the fiscal year compared to the prior fiscal year.
That’s in part due to the pandemic impacting the state’s economy as well as an extension of income and franchise tax filing deadlines from April to July.
The report noted that while the state’s general fund will “undoubtedly decrease,” there are ways that could be mitigated, including through a balance in the budget stabilization fund, a 5 percent lapse to the general fund and additional federal funding.
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