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.
Richland County Emergency Management Director, Darin Gudgeon announced that as of 2:00pm Monday, December 28th the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) confirmed that in the state of Wisconsin there were 472,153 confirmed cases of COVID-19, 2,336,531 have tested negative, there were 4,711 deaths, and 20,911 hospitalizations due to COVID-19. Of those that tested positive for COVID-19 in the state of Wisconsin, 4% have been hospitalized.
Emergency Operations partners have decided to offer more up-to-date local data on the condition of our county that might not match the numbers offered by the State. Richland County Emergency Management Director, Darin Gudgeon announced that as of 8:00am Tuesday, December 29th there are 1,073 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Richland County, 7,891 have tested negative, there are 371 active cases, and 689 individuals who had tested positive have been released from quarantine. Of those 1,073 individuals who tested positive, 1,060 individuals have been recovering at home, 58 have been hospitalized at some point, and there were 13 COVID-19 related deaths.
Richland Hospital Emergency Management Coordinator, Lyle Kratochwill announced that the Richland Hospital received their third shipment of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine today, and will be able to vaccinate another 66 of their frontline health care workers. Another Pfizer vaccine shipment is anticipated to arrive later this week, which will also be administered to frontline health care workers, as Phase 1a of the Wisconsin COVID-19 Response Plan continues to progress. Kratochwill reports that the Richland Hospital anticipates to receive additional allocations of the Pfizer vaccine on a weekly basis and the Wisconsin COVID-19 Response Plan will be followed to eventually offer vaccines to the general public. Additional information can be found at www.richlandhospital.com.
As Phase 1a progresses in Richland County, it was reported that long-term care facility residents and staff at Schmitt Woodland Hills and the Pine Valley Community Village will be offered Moderna COVID-19 vaccines from Walgreens professionals on Monday, January 4, 2021.
A collaborative partnership has been established between the Richland Hospital, Richland County Health & Human Services, and Richland County Emergency Management to develop a local plan to effectively and efficiently distribute vaccinations as they become available. This group will meet weekly to clarify the details of the local plan. The current phases of the Wisconsin COVID-19 Response Plan are as follows (as of December 29, 2020):
- Phase 1a includes vaccinating front-line health care workers and long-term care facility residents and staff that generally serve people 65 years and older.
- Phase 1b includes vaccinating individuals 75 years of age and older and non-health care front-line essential workers.
- Phase 1c includes vaccinating individuals age 65 to 74, age 16 to 64 with high-risk conditions, and essential workers not included in Phase 1b.
- Phase 2 includes vaccinating all individuals age 16 and older not included in Phase 1 (general public).
The Richland Hospital continues to offer COVID-19 drive-thru testing from 11 am to 4 pm Monday thru Friday for hospital & clinic patients displaying COVID-19 symptoms or to those that have a confirmed exposure. All persons requesting testing will need to call the Richland Hospital and be registered BEFORE arriving at the drive-thru. The Richland Hospital Clinic campus continues to offer voluntary medical procedures and Primary Care visits, while also continuing to offer Tele-Health patient visits. Richland Hospital Clinic patients needing hands-on medical care for any COVID-19 symptoms should call the hospital main number (608) 647-6321 or clinic main number (608) 647-6161 BEFORE coming to the facility.
There are NO FREE COVID-19 testing events being offered in Richland County the week of December 28th. The FREE COVID-19 Testing schedule for events offered in Richland County are as follows (this schedule is tentative and subject to change):
| JANUARY 2021 | |||
| Monday, January 4th | 9am-Noon | Richland County Fairgrounds | Richland County Event |
| Thursday, January 7th | 9am-3pm | Richland County Fairgrounds | WI National Guard Event |
| Monday, January 11th | 9am-Noon | Richland County Fairgrounds | Richland County Event |
| Thursday, January 14th | 9am-3pm | Richland County Fairgrounds | WI National Guard Event |
| Monday, January 18th | 9am-Noon | Richland County Fairgrounds | Richland County Event |
| Thursday, January 21st | 9am-3pm | Richland County Fairgrounds | WI National Guard Event |
| Monday, January 25th | 9am-Noon | Richland County Fairgrounds | Richland County Event |
| Thursday, January 28th | 9am-3pm | Richland County Fairgrounds | WI National Guard Event |
Richland County residents are encouraged to sign-up for NIXLE alerts by texting 53581 to 888777 or go to www.nixle.com to sign-up to receive emails. You will then receive up-to-date alerts regarding local COVID testing sites and clinics, severe weather, public safety, criminal activities, missing persons, traffic issues, and local events.
Individuals who have been tested for COVID-19 WILL receive their results from a testing site or healthcare provider. However, due to record high numbers of COVID-19 cases, Public Health has reached capacity and may not call you to complete a contact tracing investigation. For this reason, we ask that any newly diagnosed person with COVID-19 begin to isolate themselves immediately and go to the Richland County COVID-19 webpage at https://covid.co.richland.wi.us/if-you-are-sick-or-have-been-exposed/ in order to receive isolation and contact tracing notification guidance.
Richland County Community Partners shared the status of their individual organization’s emergency response, reviewed staffing levels and PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) inventory, and discussed priority topics to assist with preventing the further transmission of COVID-19 in our community.
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
- The Greater Richland Area Chamber of Commerce: www.gorcchamber.com
- 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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