Over 30 COVID cases at test site
By Kevin O’Brien
Of the 411 people who came to Abbotsford last week for COVID-19 screening, at least 31 of them have tested positive for the deadly disease, according to the Marathon County Health Department.
A drive-through and walk-up testing site was set up in the parking lot of the East Town Mall last Thursday and Friday, July 9 and 10, and anyone who wanted to was free to get tested with a nasal swap. Testing was done by the Marathon and Clark county health departments, with help from the Wisconsin National Guard and Family Health/La Clinica.
According to a press release sent out Tuesday, results are still coming back, but over 31 additional positive cases were identified as the result of the tests.
Judy Burrows, public information offi cer for the Marathon County Health Department, said 10 of the positive cases were people from Clark County and the other 21 were from Marathon County.
As of Tuesday, Clark County has reported 118 positive cases and seven deaths, while Marathon County has 304 cases and one fatality.
No one was turned away from the twoday event, and anyone five years and old- er with symptoms was strongly encouraged get tested. Symptoms of COVID-19 include fever, cough, loss of taste/smell, shortness of breath, sore throat, fatigue, body aches, diarrhea, vomiting or nausea, chills, and/or muscle aches.
“We strive to offer accessible testing as it is a key strategy in controlling the spread of COVID-19.” said Marathon County health officer Joan Theurer. “It’s important to have testing available to anyone who believes they may have been exposed.”
Patients who tested positive for COVID- 19 were contacted by a public health staff member, who walked them through the next steps. 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.
Even before the test results came in, all symptomatic individuals were asked to stay home and refrain from attending, work, school, church, or any other public event and to self-quarantine.
Individuals not experiencing symptoms and not identified by public health as a close contact were told they could resume activity as normal after testing, using social distancing guidelines.
Last week’s screening events were the second and third time drive-through testing was done in Abbotsford over the past six weeks. A May 29 testing event in the Abbotsford High School parking lot drew 266 people, with six participants testing positive.
As always, community members are urged to follow social distancing guidelines and stay home if they feeling sick.
