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, January 4th the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) confirmed that in the state of Wisconsin there were 508,346 confirmed cases of COVID-19, 2,405,734 have tested negative, there were 5,162 deaths, and 22,434 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. Public Health Manager/Local Health Officer, Rose Kohout announced that as of 8:00am Tuesday, January 12th there are 1,171 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Richland County and 7,985 have tested negative. Of those 1,171 individuals who tested positive, 1,158 individuals have been recovering at home, 66 have been hospitalized at some point, and there were 13 COVID-19 related deaths. Kohout noted that the number of active cases has been corrected by Health and Human Services to reflect old cases that had been removed from isolation but that were not previously subtracted from the active case data. The oversight occurred early on when Health and Human Services first began releasing active case data and was recently discovered. Kohout and Health and Human Services Director, Tracy Thorsen apologize for this inadvertent error. Richland County Public Health now has 68 active cases and 319 individuals who had tested positive have been released from quarantine.
A collaborative partnership has been established between the Richland Hospital, Richland County Health & Human Services, Richland County Emergency Management, and Center Pharmacy to develop a local plan to effectively and efficiently distribute COVID-19 vaccinations as they become available. This group continues to meet weekly to clarify the details of the local plan.
FREE COVID-19 community testing events continue in Richland County. The University of Wisconsin-Platteville Richland is offering FREE COVID-19 testing events on WEDNESDAYS (1/13 & 1/20) from 9am-3pm in the Classroom Building located on the Richland Center campus. All participants must register for this testing event at www.DoINeedaCOVID19Test.com. Drive-thru community testing events are offered weekly on MONDAYS from 9am-Noon (or until all tests are administered) and THURSDAYS from 9am-3pm at the Richland County Fairgrounds. Appointments are not required, but it is requested that those who wish to be tested pre-register at https://register.covidconnect.wi.gov. Tests will be available on a FIRST-COME, FIRST-SERVE basis. 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 | |||
| Wednesday, January 13th | 9am-3pm | Classroom Building | UW-Platteville Richland Event |
| Thursday, January 14th | 9am-3pm | Richland County Fairgrounds | WI National Guard Event |
| Monday, January 18th | 9am-Noon | Richland County Fairgrounds | Richland County Event |
| Wednesday, January 20th | 9am-3pm | Classroom Building | UW-Platteville Richland 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 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
- University of Wisconsin – Platteville Richland: https://www.uwplatt.edu/news/update-coronavirus
- 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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