Several people with COVID-19 in Walworth County have recovered
By Heather Ruenz
Staff Writer
Though the number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus has continued to climb in Walworth County, Public Health officials are trying to shift the focus to the number of people who have recovered from it.
Carlo Nevicosi, Deputy Director of Walworth County’s Health and Human Services Department said many people in the county with COVID-19 have recovered. As of Wednesday afternoon, the county had 23 confirmed cases of coronavirus, and of those, 12 people have recovered while seven were hospitalized. As a reminder, the situation remains fluid and as a result, those numbers are changing on a regular basis.
“We’re really trying to focus on the recoveries because people get locked on the how many confirmed cases scenario and the real story here is the high number of recoveries,” Nevicosi said.
He said testing resources are now being directed toward people that are critically ill. Therefore, the number of laboratory confirmed cases are no longer an accurate assessment of the spread of COVID-19.
“Most people don’t need a lab test nor does having a test – regardless of whether it’s positive or negative – impact the course of treatment. If they have symptoms and those symptoms are manageable, they’re being advised to self-quarantine at home,” Nevicosi explained.
He said it’s impossible to say if the disease in Walworth County has followed expectations because this is something they’ve never dealt with before.
“We had nothing to base it on. These are the kind of events some people train their whole lives on and never have to deal with. But it seems as a county, we’re doing OK, overall,” he said.
Nevicosi said there have been a lot of questions about where the people confirmed to have the virus live.
“Does releasing that information help, we ask ourselves? You have a risk of contracting it in any community. I understand that people want to keep themselves safe but the bottom line is, it’s everywhere at this point,” he said.
He said the department has tried to strike a balance about who to share information with. For example, if first responders are being called to a location where someone has tested positive is, they’re being told that in advance.
It’s in all communities
Nevicosi said COVID-19 has now been detected in all Walworth County communities.
Despite all the talk about social distancing guidelines, it seems some people aren’t getting the message judging by the number of vehicles at stores that remain open. Nevicosi said he isn’t aware of a mechanism to enforce the state’s Safer-at-Home order but said people need to be aware of the risk of going to public places.
“They’re potentially spreading it or bringing it home with them,” he said. “I do applaud some of the businesses that have taken extra steps to try and protect customers and employees.”
Late last week, some stores had installed plastic barriers between cashiers and customers at checkouts and are limiting how many people can be inside a store at one time.
Nevicosi said the Public Health Department is receiving a lot of calls and emails related to seasonal homeowners violating the Safer-at-Home order and asking about enforcement. He said they strongly recommend everyone follows the order but notes it’s not enforced by Public Health.
“Our role is to enforce isolation of confirmed cases of COVID-18,” he said. “Law enforcement may stop and ticket people engaging in non-essential travel, but the order is not a travel ban.”
Nevicosi said the order permits travel to return to a place of residence from outside Walworth County and also travel required for non-residents to return to their place of residence outside of Wisconsin.
Asked how long it may take until life gets back to normal, or as close to normal as possible, he said that’s hard to predict but said there’s one model the state seems to be following closely.
“We don’t know for sure but the Murray projection model says Wisconsin will peak around April 27,” Nevicosi said.
The Murray projection is a COVID-19 forecasting model created by Dr. Christopher Murray and researchers in Washington State that predicts the state-by-state impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The model can be found at covid19.healthdata.org.
Nevicosi said from a nationwide perspective – as far as putting orders in place – he believes Wisconsin did a pretty good job.
“I believe they are having an impact, and a lot of people are approaching this with good faith. They’re checking on their neighbors and following guidelines,” he said.
For more information visit the Walworth County website at co.walworth.wi.us, the state Department of Health and Human Services website at dhs.wisconsin.gov or the Centers for Disease Control website at cdc.gov.
