MADISON, WI (Wisconsin Radio Network) – More than 70 people who tested positive for COVID-19 after an April 24 rally at the Capitol in Madison. They answered ‘yes’ when asked if they’d attended a large gathering.
But Department of Health Services Secretary Andrea Palm says contact tracers are not asking people about specific events — like the ‘Open Wisconsin Now’ rally: “And so whether you went to the polls as a poll worker or a voter, whether you came to the protest or went to another large gathering, that would be part of the information we would get, when those contact tracers were making those contacts with positive cases and subsequently people that they may have exposed.”
DHS actually did add a question following the April 7 election, to learn if people had been at the polls. As of Thursday, 67 who tested positive had also reported being at the polls, either to vote or as poll workers. State health officials say it’s impossible to tell if they came in contract with the Coronavirus at polling stations or somewhere else.
