Coronavirus testing ramps up; two free sites open Monday
Goal is to boost number tested to the thousands
A big hurdle to reopening Wisconsin is knowing who’s infected with COVID-19 and who isn’t, made more difficult by a shortage of testing materials that have meant restrictions on the number of people who can be tested.
The logjam appears to be loosening, and now two sites in Milwaukee will test as many as 500 people who walk or drive up each day.
Free testing sites on the north and south sides of Milwaukee are opening at 8 a.m. Monday with Wisconsin National
Guard troops dressed in protective gear performing nasal swabs, a process that should only take a few minutes.
“The whole goal here is the more we can ramp up the testing, the more we believe we can quickly get our life back to normal,” Barrett said in an online news conference Sunday afternoon.
The testing sites will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day at UMOS, 2701 S. Chase Ave., and Midtown Center, 5700 W. Capitol Drive.
A total of 175 Wisconsin National Guard soldiers and airmen will be part of the testing efforts, working in three teams at each site. Test samples will be sent each day to Exact Sciences Laboratories in Madison.
National Guard troops assigned to a phone bank center will call individuals with their test results three days later.
Those who test positive will be contacted by Health Department officials and contact tracers to determine the infected person’s movements and then contacting the people who were in contact with the person who tested positive. They will be asked to self-isolate.
The Wisconsin National Guard has 15 testing specimen teams throughout the state, and within a few days that number will grow to 25 teams, said Capt. Joe Trovato.
Barrett noted that the soldiers and airmen at testing sites will wear personal protection equipment that might make them look like astronauts. Trovato said the suits are reusable, a bonus at a time of shortages of personal pro
tective equipment like masks and gowns.
“We understand the suits our troops are wearing maybe look a little intimidating, look a little scary,” said Trovato. “They’re what we already have on hand and they’re what we train with on a regular basis.”
The mayor said more test sites are expected to open in the coming days and weeks.
As of 5 p.m. Sunday, more than 10,000 people have tested positive in Wisconsin with 400 deaths and 1,820 hospitalized. More than 105,000 people have tested negative in the state.
The free testing sites on Milwaukee’s north and south sides are for anyone, but particularly those with coronavirus symptoms, which include fever, chills, coughing, difficulty breathing, muscle pain, headache and loss of taste or smell, said Dr. Nick Tomaro, who’s the public health emergency response planning coordinator for the city Health Department.
Sunday’s news conference was translated into Spanish because the mayor noted that a growing number of people in Milwaukee’s Hispanic community have recently tested positive for the coronavirus.
The goal of the free sites is to boost the number of people in Milwaukee getting tested into the thousands, Barrett said. How long the testing sites will remain open is unknown.
“We’ll have a sense of how long it will last by how many people come,” said Barrett.
Meanwhile on Sunday, folks figured out a way to celebrate Mother’s Day during the safer-at-home order. And that included brunch.
Restaurants offering takeout on Mother’s Day had many orders lined up for pickup and curbside brunch orders. Among them was the Cheesecake Factory at Mayfair Mall where dozens of motorists waited to pick up lunch or dessert over the noon hour, including Shannon Simmons of Milwaukee.
“Things are a little different, but it’s still my job to make sure Mom feels special today,” Simmons said.
Dan Henke picked up a Mother’s Day meal at Alioto’s on Mayfair Road.
“My wife told me we didn’t need to do anything special, but I told her it’s her day and we should still celebrate even though we can’t go out,” Henke said.
Henke, his wife, Colleen, and their two daughters have been baking more during quarantine.
“It made shopping for a gift easy. The girls and I got my wife some new baking equipment so they’re at home working on something right now,” Henke said.
At Target on Miller Park Way, Mother’s Day cards were mostly sold out and some flowers were left for last-minute shoppers.
“I’m here just running some errands,” said Tina Chavez. “My kids said they would clean the house for Mother’s Day. They started when I left, but I’ll see how that’s going.”
She said her kids, 12 and 16, also made her breakfast Sunday morning.
Chavez went to her mother’s home Saturday and sat on the porch to celebrate with her mom. Sunday would have been too cold for that, with brisk temperatures in the 40s and a mix of rain and snow.
“Usually my family gets together to celebrate all the mamas, but that isn’t going to happen this year,” Chavez said. “I know I look forward to it, but we’ll just have to celebrate even more next year.”