GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – The Brown County Health Department has opened a new testing site at the Resch Center. Officials say the site will be used to test workers at specific locations including long term care facilities, healthcare workers and group housing.
Claire Paprocki of the county health department says she believes it is the first drive-up testing site in the county.
“We’re specifically going in and trying to target these specific areas of the workforce so we can avoid another situation that happened like JBS, AFG (American Foods Group) and Salm.”
“Every positive test of COVID-19 begins a test investigation with contact tracing, however positive test can also trigger a facility-wide investigation depending on the location of those positive tests,” said Department of Health Services Secretary Andrea Palm.
Palm says DHS is making a point to track facility-based outbreaks.
“Whether it’s flu season, or it’s this pandemic or whether it’s other kinds of infectious diseases, these congregate settings are more likely to see spread. The kinds of infection control practices that you need to have in place are there in these places, so doubling down on them, enhancing training, reminding folks, upping our game on those practices is a really important thing.”
Paprocki says people using this test facility will be directed to do so.
“You would still need a doctor’s order or a physician’s order in order to be tested. We are working in partnership with the healthcare systems to make sure the employees sent to the Resch Center, they’re appropriate to be tested.”
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Brown County is up to 1,049.
The overall number of cases in the county rose by 81 in one day. Of the 1,049 people who have been confirmed to be infected, 40 remain in the hospital as of noon Thursday. 142 people are out of isolation. There have been three confirmed deaths.
Brown County is also monitoring cases in the Oneida Nation. The number of positive tests there is now at 8, up one from a Wednesday.
Meanwhile, county health officials are continuing to monitor the number of cases linked to meat packing plants in the area.
At JBS Packerland 290 employees have tested positive. Another 58 cases are linked to those employees through contact tracing. At American Foods Group, 179 employees have tested positive, with 32 linked cases. Salm Partners remains unchanged since yesterday with 35 positive cases.
