Posted on

Clark COVID cases jump by 31 in last week

Bolstered by a public testing event last week that uncovered 10 new positive coronavirus cases, Clark County saw its largest single-week leap in cases since the pandemic began in mid-March. The county has now recorded 118 positive cases through Tuesday, and was at 87 a week ago at the same time.

The county’s positive case incidence rate jumped back over Eau Claire County again as the highest in the area.

A public testing event held on July 9-10 in Abbotsford brought in 411 people. As of Tuesday, those test results had identified 31 positive cases, with 21 of them attributed to Marathon County residents and the other 10 to Clark County residents. That testing site administered free tests to any person who sought one, and was not limited to only those people who were experiencing coronavirus symptoms. Past public testing had been limited to symptomatic people due to a shortage of testing supplies.

Not all of the test results have been returned, according to Marathon County Public Health Department officials.

Patients were made aware at the event that if they receive a positive test result, a public health staff member would call them and walk them through the next steps.

Until the result is delivered, the health departments ask that all symptomatic individuals stay home and refrain from attending, work, school, church, or any other public event and to self-quarantine. Individuals will be contacted with results within 3-7 days and participants are strongly encouraged to pick up the phone for unknown numbers during that time, as it may be their COVID-test results. If individuals were not experiencing symptoms and were not identified by public health as a close contact, they can resume activity as normal after testing, using social distancing guidelines. Close contacts to positive cases will be contacted by the health department and will be asked to quarantine until the risk of infection has passed.

Clark County Public Health Director Brittany Mews was unavailable for comment early this week on the recent spike in cases. She is to address the Clark County Board of Supervisors on Thursday morning in Neillsville on the status of the COVID-19 situation here.

LATEST NEWS