Richland Center, WI: A virtual Emergency Operations Center meeting was held this morning to share information between Richland County officials and community partners in a joint response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Public Health Manager/Local Health Officer, Rose Kohout announced that as of 2:00pm Monday, June 15th the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) confirmed that in the state of Wisconsin there were 22,932 confirmed cases of COVID-19, 403,447 have tested negative, there were 694 deaths, and 3,061 hospitalizations due to COVID-19. Of those that tested positive for COVID-19 in the state of Wisconsin, 13% have been hospitalized. There remain 14 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Richland County, 1,238 have tested negative, and there have been 4 deaths as a result of COVID-19 at this time. Kohout also reported that 10 individuals who had tested positive for COVID-19 in Richland County have been released from quarantine.
Richland County Administrator, Clinton Langreck reported that “after weeks of discussion and evaluating options with our Public Health Manager/Local Health Officer Rose Kohout, our Fair Coordinator Carla Doudna, members of our Emergency Operation Center, and members of the community, the Richland County Fair and Recycling Committee voted to cancel the 2020 Richland County Fair scheduled for September 9-13 due to the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency.” The county is currently not in a position to host, promote, encourage or sanction mass gatherings on public grounds which may increase the risk of infection and unreasonably jeopardize one of the County’s functions of supporting public health. Therefore, all requests for organizational events to be held at the Richland County Fairgrounds through September 13, 2020 have been denied. Events occurring after September 13th will not be considered until August 19, 2020.
The Richland Hospital Coronavirus Hotline and drive-thru respiratory care services remain CLOSED. Patients needing hands-on medical care should call the hospital main number (608) 647-6321 or clinic main number (608) 647-6161 before coming to the facility. The Richland Hospital campus continues to phase in a re-opening of their facility for voluntary medical procedures and Primary Care visits will continue to expand over the next few weeks.
It was announced that the “We’re All In” initiative includes $2,500 cash grants designed to help small businesses respond and recover from the effects of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency. Applications can be found at https://wedc.org/focus-forward/ with a deadline of June 23, 2020.
If you have a COVID-19 question that you want our community partners to answer, please call Richland County Health & Human Services at 608-647-8821 and submit your question to the receptionist or email the question to rchhs@co.richland.wi.us. Citizens are encouraged to check out the Richland County COVID-19 Dashboard which offers helpful data to better understand the impact of the pandemic globally and locally: https://covid.co.richland.wi.us/2020/04/21/richland-county-covid-19-dashboard/. For the most up-to-date COVID-19 information, follow Richland County Health & Human Services on Facebook or consult the following websites:
- Richland County: https://covid.co.richland.wi.us
- Wisconsin Department of Health Services: www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/covid-19
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/
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