MENASHA, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – The long line of drivers waiting for free COVID-19 tests doesn’t surprise Eric Rasmussen.
“We were anticipating a large turnout today. We haven’t had community wide testing open to the public since May.”
Rasmussen is Winnebago County’s Deputy Director of Emergency Management.
He tells FOX he knew they’d need the Wisconsin National Guard to help with the tests.
“We file a request through the state for their support and they bring a team up and they have a very specific mission and today it was to complete that testing for us.”
Menasha Public Health Director, Nancy McKenny, says the site initially asked for 500 tests.
A little over an hour after this Menasha testing site opened, Winnebago County Emergency Management ordered an additional 250 tests.
“The five public health departments have all noticed that their disease rate for covid-19 has been higher. So in order to contain the disease, you really have to do testing to identify the positive test results and isolate those individuals and identify the close contacts,” said McKenny.
McKenny tells FOX 11 community testing serves a second purpose, too.
“It helps to conserve our capacity within our health care systems as well as giving all of our community residents to be tested if they’re symptomatic.”
The National Guard will notify people with negative results.
Those who test positive will be contacted by their local health department.
500 free tests will also be available at Sunnyview Expo Center in Oshkosh on Friday and Saturday.
The community site will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m..
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