A summary of what Madison, Dane County and the Public Health Department are doing due to coronavirus and reminders to the public.You can watch along here, and catch details of precisely how people said things:
This is just a quick summary of what they had to say, you can watch above to get details.
Janel Heinrich, Public Health Director
These are unprecedneted times. She says she is impressed by the community coming together. Over past 10 days Public Health Madison and Dane County and Governor Evers have issued order to require social distancing in our community. You might wonder why ask so much of people? The things we are asking you to do, stay home, cover your cough, limit contact with others – are the things we have to do to keep all of us from getting sick. If we don’t prevent the spread of COVID-19, our health care systems will be overwhelmed, there may not be hospital beds for everyone who needs it. Over 1800 tests have been run in Dane County, 70 have come back positive. There are likely many other positives in our community that have not been tested. Over half the people who have tested positive are in the 20 – 44 age group, this is likely because early tests were on travelers and those of working age. They will continue to share data, they are seeing people in all age groups test positive. 25% of those with positive tests have no known risk factor, not exposed to someone who tested positive, no travel history and no health care exposure. That number is increasing, community spread is happening. It reinforces why it is important to stay home – every person who stays home makes it more difficult for COVID-19 to spread. When we look at how Dane County data compares to those who had Covid 19 earliers, we see similar patterns. Dane County implemented orders sooner, they are hopeful that will have a positive impact, but it will take a while to see the results. In the past week those who have tested positive, have increasingly fewer high risk contacts outside the home. This is promising. We can continue to reduce the risk by following stronger orders such as the one the Governor will likely be announcing later this week. Data is constantly changing and they are committed to keeping the public updated through the public health website and social media channels. They are developing a data dashboard with more real time data and they will let us know as soon as it is live.
County Executive Joe Parisi
Joe Parisi has to say, several times, that they need to stand 6 feet apart.
He thanks everyone. These are challenging times, people are hurting and scared, we are here to help you through this challenge. Community is coming together, working as a team and watching out for our neighbors. In Dane Coutny we have taken aggressive action to slow the spread. Aggressive action now will pay off later. Today the Governor informed us that stricter guidelines are likely to go into effect soon. This will be challenging but necessary. While guidelines will tighten, they will not shut down access to essential services. You will always be able to go to the grocery store, the pharmacy, the doctor, take your pet to the vet, get your broken furnace fixed. That will not change. You don’t need and will never need to buy three months worth of groceries. When shopping please remember our neighbors need groceries too, there is plenty to go around as long as people don’t hoard, supply chains are strong. Bulk shopping is a sign that many people are scared. We are here to support you.
On the county side has been on people in vulnerable situations. At the Alliant Energy Center the Exposition Hall is now food distribution and packaging warehouse for Second Harvest. We see food sites popping across the county. Senior meals, they usually serve 3000 meals at senior centers and meals on wheels. Last week they delivered 3700 meals, a 20% increase with help from staff and volunteers. In homelessness they have secured close to 100 hotel rooms, they moved families that were formerly experiencing homelessness into those rooms, they moved the most vulnerable singles experiencing homelessness into hotel rooms and they are working in partnership with the city to identify structures and buildings for us to extend homeless services to to help people spread out even more and achieve the social distancing that is ideal. As people are needing to turn to food share and unemployment benefits, you don’t have to go to the job center to apply for those. Unemployment and food share are available online and over the phone. Parks are open – it’s ok to go outside, to take a walk in the park, go for a bike ride, enjoy a jog. Just practice social distancing even outside. It’s ok to do that. This is going to be challenging, we will go through it as a team, we will get to the other side. He says the World War II Generation, the Greatest Generation, got through it by working together, and we will do the same. He is seeing it. We will get through this together.
Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway (mayor’s comments here)
Her deepest sympathies to those who have lost loved ones to this virus. Thanks the Governor for taking further steps today. Number with COVID-19 is going up – 70 people in Dane County have tested positive. We have been working around the clock since before the first case was in Dane County to slow the transmission. They are coordinating with everyone. She thanks everyone for what they are doing to prevent the spread.
The city is in close contact with hospitals and health care systems, making sure nurses and health care professionals get to work on time via Metro Transit and that they have a place to park if they are driving. We are working on childcare options for essential workers. We are working closely with the county and community organizations to reduce crowding in our homeless shelters and provide food and shelter for our homeless residents to make sure they are prepared and protected from this virus. The majority of city offices are closed to walk up business but are providing services via phone, email and web. But we are innovating and delivering services in new ways. We instituted curb side voting on Friday and you can request an absentee ballot on line through April 3rd. Our city clerks office is processing an astounding 36,000 absentee ballots. And they are trying to keep up. They encourage everyone to request and absentee ballot or engage in curb side voting through April 3rd. While the libraries are closed, they encourage people to keep materials at home until those libraries reopen because the book drops are closed as well, however the online databases, magazines, newspapers and downloadable audio books and ebooks are accessible 24/7 and the library is planning a virtual online library card, so stay tuned. She thanks police and fire. they are cahnging policies and procedures to be safe while personal protective equipment is in short supply. Do not call 911 with questions about your health care, please call in an emergency. If looking for health advice, call your health care provider directly. She thanks Metro bus drivers – they have limited capacity on the buses and are taking additional steps to protect drivers every day, we need to keep this essential service running. This week they are down to a Saturday + service. If you take the bus regularly please check the schedules. As we wait for federal and state support for our business community we are partnering closely with the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce, the Latino Chamber of Commerce and the Black Chamber of Commerce to provide regular communication about COVID-19 updates, best practices for businesses to stay afloat during these difficult times and a wide range of resources that is available to the business community. We are working with restaurants to provide curbside pickup. At the city they crated a flexible sick leave policy for the workers. She calls on every business in the City of Madison to do the same. They are continuing to meet as the City Council and they have a Finance Committee today, they are trying to go electronic with all of our government meetings, we’ll see how that goes. All non-essential committee meetings have been postponed and we ask for the public’s patience while we find an online solution that can work for all of our committees. The 2020 census is here, please complete it now from the comfort of your home. The grocery stores are open today, they will be open tomorrow and the day after that, and the day after that. There is no reason to hoard food. Stores are working hard to hire hundreds of new employees, hopefully some laid off restaurant workers and to create pick up and delivery services so you can get groceries at their curbsides as well. If you use the food pantries the pantries do have food, but most are moving from a client choice model to a per-packaged boxed pick up model. For those who have resources to share, consider making a donation to our local food pantries, they are working hard to make sure everyone in our community has food to eat. If you can make a cash donation to them, she encourages you to do so. She thanks people for pulling together, its important to prcctice social distancing, good hand hygiene, keep things as clean as possible, stay home if you can. Reduce your risk and reduce our entire community’s risk. Stay up to date by following Public Health Madison/Dane County on Twiter @publichealthmdc and on facebook @publichealthmdc. You will get the latest updates on social media and online https://publichealthmdc.com She says that although people in media are doing better at their social distancing, they are not there yet. So let’s try and keep our 6 feet between us. We need the media to get the word out just as much as we need our other essential services.
Questions
Q: Are restaurant workers exempt under the Governor’s rules?
Mayor: At the moment we don’t know what those orders are and restaurants have been asked to go to pick up and take out only, so we are trying to make it easier for them to do that by giving them parking spaces in front of their storefronts, so poeple can pull up, get their order and drive on. We will see tomorrow what the Governor’s orders are.
Q: About the number of cases.
Public Health: They have seen an increase, what is on the website for DHS says 61, we have 70 cases when she came down.
Q: Couldn’t hear it – Metro Transit
Mayor: We don’t know what the governor’s orders will look like, they are focused on the transit they provide. At the moment they consider Metro Transit and Paratransit essential public services and we will continue to provide them as long as we can.
Q: Couldn’t hear it – evictions.
Mayor: I have repeatedly called on both landlords and the state to issue a moratorium on evictions and non-renewals, this is not something that is the power of the city or county, they understand the number of people that are housing insecure in community is increasing daily and its of incredible concern. They are looking at what they can do to support people in this time, but she does call on every single landlord in the City of Madison, and Dane County, to put a self-imposed moratorium on evictions and non-renewals and to do everything they can to support your tenants in this difficult time including deferring rent payments if that is an option.
Q: Couldn’t hear it – Homeless
Mayor: They are actively working with the county and the state to identify appropriate sites to house all sorts of different populations that are homeless and they are doing that in part to achieve social distancing in the shelters, but in part to protect homeless folks that are particularly vulnerable to this disease, so they were our first priority for us and those folks should already be in hotel rooms at this point. Beyond that, she can’t share details about specific facilities, they are still working that through with the county and the state and the homeless services providers.
