FOND DU LAC COUNTY, WI (WTAQ) – Despite some cases are on the verge of ending self-isolation orders, there are now 14 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Fond du Lac County – and health officials in the area are beginning to prioritize testing for the virus.
“Sick people, people in ICU’s, people experiencing hospitalizations, as well as healthcare individuals experiencing symptoms – those individuals would get the priority,” says County Health Officer Kim Mueller, “The Wisconsin state lab of hygiene can handle 400 tests. Right now, they’re seeing about 1,000 tests coming in. Supplies are low with that much testing happening, so they really need to concentrate on who needs the tests the most.”
The number of confirmed cases has continued to rise, and it’s likely the pending cases will also grow as testing fills up.
“We have completely full calendars, so that could be upwards of 50 tests. But that’s definitely just a guess because those numbers could be increasing as we speak,” Mueller says.
While the term “community spread” has not yet been applied to the rising numbers in Fond du Lac County, there are still concerns it could come in the near future. Community spread refers to confirmed cases that had no known contact with previous confirmed cases.
It is currently unclear if the two cases announced after the state released numbers on Wednesday afternoon had contact with known cases.
The twelfth case in the county did have direct contact with an individual on an Egyptian river cruise, but was not on a cruise themselves.
“Our new case was our first case of somebody that was not on the Egyptian river cruise – and was not of domestic travel,” Mueller says.
But as the new cases roll in, there is a slight silver lining in regards to the earliest confirmed cases.
“There is at least one that I know of that is no longer in that self-isolation order.”
The county has been a hot spot of cases since the return of an Egyptian river cruise. Many of the county’s cases were connected to that cruise.
