GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) — Brown County is going to begin naming businesses and events in the area that are not following proper COVID-19 health guidelines.
The names will be published as part of a new tool county officials will release next week.
“If public health is made aware that an entity is not following our recommendations and is putting the health of the public at risk, or if a large outbreak is seen, we will notify the public,” said Health Officer Anna Destree on Friday. “We need to do this…to avoid overwhelming our hospital systems.”
They’ll reccommend people who have been to those businesses or events to get tested.
The four hospitals in Brown County currently have 71 COVID-19 patients between them–well above the record of 47 set during the late spring outbreak in April.
“Our emergency department has experienced unprecedented surges this week,” said Bellin Health CEO Chris Woleske. “Last Friday, and more recently this week, our demand was so great that we had to hold patients in gurneys in the hallway in order to provide care.”
A recent New York Times report listed three northeast Wisconsin cities among the top ten cities nationwide with the highest average case rate per capita over the past two weeks. Green Bay clocked in at 6th, Appleton at 7th, and Oshkosh-Neenah at 10th.
Destree says that if businesses continue to fail to comply, the county can issue citations and even forcibly close the business to the public.
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