Six test positive at COVID-19 drive-thru

By Kevin O’Brien

Six people tested positive for COVID- 19 following a May 29 drive-through testing event in Abbotsford that drew 266 people from the area, according to the Marathon County Health Department.

Three of the positive cases were people living in Clark County, and the other three were Marathon County residents, said Melissa Moore of the Marathon County Health Department on Tuesday The testing was done in the parking lot of Abbotsford High School, with assistance from the Wisconsin National Guard and public health officials from Marathon and Clark counties.

Of those who were tested, 57 percent came from Clark County, 32 percent were from Marathon County, 8 percent were from Taylor County and 1 percent each came from Lincoln and Wood (with 1 percent listed as “other”).

Half of those who showed up to be tested spoke Spanish as their primary language, according to a press release from the county health department.

Two days before the testing event, it was announced that three employees at Abbyland Foods in Abbotsford had test-

See COVID/ Page 8 ed positive for COVID-19.

Moore said Tuesday that her department did not have any updates on the number of cases at Abbyland Foods.

By the health department’s definition, an “outbreak” occurs when just two or more cases are reported at any place of employment, she said. (A single case constitutes an “outbreak” at a nursing home or other health care facility).

Another 142 people were tested at a May 13 event at the Thorp High School parking lot, which was co-hosted by the Chippewa and Taylor county health departments. Of the 67 Clark County residents tested at that event, all of them back with negative results.

At a May 19 event at the Northcentral Technical College campus in Wausau, two people tested positive for COVID- 19 out of the 221 who participated.

As of June 8, Marathon County had 64 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 11 hospitalizations and one death. Another 40 county residents have recovered after contracting the virus.

Clark County has had 45 confirmed cases as of June 9, which includes four deaths and nine hospitalizations. Twelve cases were still active as of Tuesday, and 29 people had recovered.

Statewide, 646 people have died of the disease out of the 21,038 confirmed cases.