Health Officials Will Track Election Day COVID-19 Spread
It will take several weeks to see if in person voting increased transmission of the disease.

Jeramey Jannene spoke with multiple voters at Riverside High School, one of five polling places in the City of Milwaukee, that waited over 2.5 hours to vote. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.
The Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) plans to track COVID-19 transmissions related to Tuesday’s election.
People around the state voted in person after legal and political attempts to postpone the election failed and during Gov. Tony Evers’s stay-at-home order.
In a telephone town hall meeting Thursday with Democratic U.S. Rep. Ron Kind, DHS Secretary Andrea Palm said it was a “big disappointment” the election went forward, in possible detriment to public health.
“The data will show us whether or not there was significant transmission as a result of what were essentially mass gatherings at polling locations around the state,” she said.
That data will take several weeks to show if the election had an impact on transmission, as it takes time for people to develop COVID-19 symptoms, according to a DHS press release. Local public health officials will interview people with confirmed cases about exposures, including exposures on election day, to collect that data.
The workers help interview people with positive cases to find out who they have come into contact with and notify those people, a process called contact tracing.
Palm said there aren’t many other tools to fight the spread of the new coronavirus.
“Until there’s a vaccine, until there is medical treatment that is effective, all we’ve got is physical distancing and our ability to very actively manage cases and outbreaks,” she said.
Evers is asking for $17 million in new funding for local public health agencies, as well as 64 additional DHS staff, in a proposed legislative package, according to the DHS release.
“These proposed contact tracing assets will be critical to Wisconsin’s ability to actively manage this pandemic until effective medical treatment or a vaccine is available,” the release states.
Listen to the WPR report here.
Wisconsin Health Officials To Track Election Day COVID-19 Transmission was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.
More about the 2020 Spring Primary
- Why Don Natzke Couldn’t Vote - Enjoyiana Nururdin - Aug 9th, 2020
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report highlights public health measures taken by the Milwaukee Health and Fire Departments, Department of Administration, Election Commission, and the Wisconsin Department of Health Services - City of Milwaukee Health Department - Aug 4th, 2020
- CDC Says Election Did Not Cause COVID-19 Spike - Erik Gunn - Aug 4th, 2020
- Pandemic Reduced Black Vote, Study Finds - Dee J. Hall - Jun 25th, 2020
- Did April Election Hike COVID-19 Cases? - Alana Watson - May 20th, 2020
- Elections Commission Notes ‘Lessons Learned’ - Henry Redman - May 19th, 2020
- Wisconsin Elections News: WEC Releases Analysis of Absentee Voting in April 7 Spring Election - Wisconsin Elections Commission - May 18th, 2020
- Election’s Impact on County’s COVID-19 Cases Unclear - Jeramey Jannene - May 6th, 2020
- Why State’s Voting By Mail Was Chaotic - Daniel C. Vock - May 4th, 2020
- At Least 40 COVID-19 Cases Tied to Election in Milwaukee - Graham Kilmer - Apr 24th, 2020
Read more about 2020 Spring Primary here
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