COVID-19 testing increasing in western Wisconsin with National Guard assistance, including St. Croix, Pierce and Dunn/Eau Claire counties

Local public health departments in Western Wisconsin will receive assistance from the WI National Guard to scale up COVID-19 testing. A number of sites throughout Western WI are being announced.

Testing through the collection site will be free of charge. These events are only available to WI residents or people who work in WI.

In our area, the following sites will host community COVID-19 specimen:

• Baldwin-Friday May 8th: Western Wisconsin Health, 1100 Bergslien St, Baldwin, WI 54002 from 11AM-7PM (take I95, US-63 exit).

• River Falls-Saturday May 9th: St. Croix Valley Business Innovation Center, 1091 Sutherland Ave, River Falls, WI 54022, from 9AM-4PM (take WI-53, Radio Rd Exit)

• Dunn County & Eau Claire-Sunday May 10th and Monday, 11th: Chippewa Valley Technical College/Prevea Health Clinic, 617 W. Clairemont Avenue, Eau Claire, WI. On Sunday, May 10th from 9:00 am – 5:00 pm, and on Monday, May 11th from 11:00 am – 7:00 pm, or until testing kits run out.

Any Wisconsin resident 5 years and older who is currently sick with any of these symptoms: fever, cough, shortness of breath or difficult breathing, chills, repeated shaking with chills, muscle pain, headache, sore throat, or new loss of taste or smell are eligible for nasal swab testing. Following testing, people should return directly to their home and isolate themselves until they receive their test results and further guidance from public health. Isolation means stay home, separate yourself from other people in your home, and wash your hands often. People will be notified of their test results by phone within 24-48 hours.

We have two goals with this event. First, to provide our communities with mass testing. Second, to give Public Health better insight into how much COVID-19 is in our communities. Both Public Health departments will continue to work closely with our local healthcare providers to continue building their capacity to meet patient demand.

Providing a mass COVID-19 testing site offers a better understanding of the presence of the virus in our communities. This will only be a moment-in-time snapshot of its current activity. Following this event, testing will still be available through our local healthcare providers for other people who are experiencing any of the above symptoms.

“This event is not meant to replace the great work our local healthcare providers are doing to provide testing. It is meant to be a blast of mass testing to get better data on what’s going on in our community, and it will allow additional time for all of us to continue scaling up our local capacity for testing,” said AZ Snyder, Health Officer for Pierce County.

“If we get positive cases through this event, we will be able to isolate those people and trace their contacts to stop further spread in our communities. If there aren’t many positive cases as a result of this event, we can use that data to explore reopening activities. A lack of positive cases as a result of this event doesn’t mean we’re in the clear; it means we are doing a great job of limiting contacts and need to keep social distancing,” said Kelli Engen, St. Croix County Health Officer.

Following testing, people should return directly to their home and isolate themselves until they receive their test results and further guidance from public health. Isolation means stay home, separate yourself from other people in your home, and wash your hands often. People who attend the Dunn/Eau Claire county sites will be notified of their test results by phone within 24-48 hours.

For more information

• St. Croix and Pierce counties: If there are questions about the event, please call 715-928-3969.

• Dunn and Eau Claire counties: contct the COVID-19 Call Center at 715-831-7425. Additional testing sites will be added to the Western WI Public Health Readiness Consortium http://wwphrc.org/covid-19-community-testing/.

Additional testing sites

There are plans for additional testing sites throughout the Western Region of Wisconsin in early May. Additional testing sites will be added to the Western WI Public Health Readiness Consortium. Learn more here: http://wwphrc.org/covid-19-community-testing/