Dane County Executive Joe Parisi issued the following statement regarding new numbers from Public Health Madison/Dane County that show there were 456 new positive cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours:
“Our community is experiencing its first sustained, significant surge of illness since this terrible pandemic began. The task before all of us is great, as we are facing a public health emergency. We will have some incredibly difficult and sad weeks ahead if we don’t rally together now and stop this deeply disturbing trend.
“The vast majority of today’s new cases are affiliated with the University of Wisconsin. Public Health Madison/Dane County has nearly 100 contact tracers to help identify and isolate illness in a timely fashion. Even with the most robust contact tracing program in the state, our public health department will not be able to keep up with this volume of cases from the UW.
“We need the assistance of the University. Of additional challenge, a number of the young people who public health staff try to contact are not being helpful or forthcoming about whom they have been in contact with, complicating the necessary work to help limit community spread. Detailed, effective contact tracing is critical, but we need those who test positive to cooperate if Public Health contacts them.
“This pandemic has caused irreversible pain across our country. We have seen what is has done to families and tight knit communities. We must act now – together – to change the course we are on.”
