Wisconsin to ramp up testing with federal funds
CARES Act money will also support hospitals
As coronavirus cases in Wisconsin neared 13,000 on Tuesday, Gov. Tony Evers laid out a plan that calls for the state to spend $1 billion in federal aid to ramp up testing and contact tracing and support local health departments.
The money is part of a grant to the state through the federal CARES Act, which was approved by Congress to help states deal with the coronavirus crisis.
The largest chunk of the state’s CARES money — $445 million — will go to resources for hospitals to handle a possible surge of coronavirus patients this fall and winter.
Those preparations include the cost of building alternate care facilities to house COVID-19 patients should there be a surge in hospitalizations. In Milwaukee County, facilities have been built at State Fair Park and refurbished at the House of Correction, where inmates who test positive can be treated.
A third alternative care facility could be set up in Dane County.
The announcement by Evers came on a day when Wisconsin officials announced that roughly 5% of the nearly 4,000 tests run since Monday were positive — just under 200 new cases of COVID-19.
That’s an increase in the percentage of positive cases, which hit a monthly low of 2.9% Monday, but still below the percentage for recent days. The number of tests processed Tuesday — 3,933 — was also the fewest daily since May 11. Four hundred and sixty-seven Wisconsinites have died from the virus, an increase of eight from Monday.
While many businesses, including area malls, have begun reopening, public health experts say testing is key to successfully resuming economic life without large surges in new cases.
To date, 52 labs across the state are able to run more than 13,000 tests a day. More than 161,000 Wisconsinites have now been tested, just under 3% of the state’s population.
Under Evers’ plan for the CARES Act money, $202 million will be earmarked for test kits, $10 million will go to local and tribal public health departments to coordinate their own testing efforts, and $45 million will go for testing workplaces and similar large-group settings.
In addition, $30,000 grants would go to 96 local health departments to update preparedness plans to continue testing into the fall.
Meanwhile, the state’s contact tracing efforts will get a $75 million boost, mostly directed to public health departments to hire staff needed to help identify people those who have tested positive have been in contact with.
Wisconsin will also spend $150 million on personal protective equipment and $40 million on ventilators to get roughly 1,500 more of the machines, the governor’s office said in a news release.
The remaining $200 million will be directed to state agencies to cover the bill for money spent on emergency operations during the pandemic, the release said.
National Guard vital to testing
The Wisconsin National Guard has collected more than 46,000 specimens to be tested for the coronavirus, Gen. Paul Knapp, Wisconsin’s adjunct general, said in a call Tuesday with reporters.
The Guard has more than 600 soldiers and airmen in nine counties to help local authorities increase their testing capacity.
Nearly 40 soldiers and airmen are manning a call center to inform people of their test results. About a dozen are bilingual, in languages such as Hmong and Spanish. Nearly 20,000 calls have been made with an 87% success rate, Knapp said.
While the National Guard has been a help to communities during the pandemic, it is only authorized to mobilize until June 24. Knapp said Evers has sent a request to the White House to extend the National Guard’s mobilization through the end of July.
Moving into next phase of reopening
Local municipalities continue to decide how their communities will move forward following the state Supreme Court ruling last week that threw out the statewide safer-at-home order, which was set to expire May 26.
Milwaukee County’s suburban municipalities will move on to the next phase of reopening Friday, allowing all remaining businesses to open.
A county order will expire at 11:59 p.m. Thursday, allowing the 18 municipalities to open all remaining businesses if they choose. The City of Milwaukee’s stay-at-home order remains in effect without an end date.
Ann Christiansen, director of the North Shore Health Department, said during a virtual news conference Tuesday that suburban municipalities are finalizing guidelines for reopening.
“This will allow more businesses to reopen but it also puts in place guidelines and parameters for how to reopen safely and under what conditions,” she said.
Those include plans that allow for social distancing, disinfection and cleaning, and other protections for employees and customers, she said.
Local health departments will be communicating the plan with their businesses in their jurisdictions in the coming days, she said.
Franklin’s safer-at-home order is set to expire Thursday, lifting all restrictions on businesses in that city.
Finally, a group that helps Wisconsin manufacturers will receive $1.5 million in federal coronavirus relief money, U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin announced Tuesday.