4-28-20 fdl county public health officer says testing is key

The Fond du Lac County Public Health Officer says a new report from a Harvard panel of health, science and economic experts show how daunting the task will be to reopen the economy.   The report says the U.S. will need to administer 20 million tests for the novel coronavirus each day by mid-summer to fully remobilize the economy in a safe fashion.  Public Health Officer Kim  Mueller says  if she feels Fond du Lac county is doing a good job with testing because of  the number of cases coming in and what her staff can handle as far as contact tracing is concerned , that’s based on what’s happening right now.  “But it doesn’t take into context what we could be dealing with if we had a surge or what it could look like when we know there are going to be influenza-like symptoms that could mimic some COVID-like symptoms this coming fall,”  Mueller told WFDL news.   The Harvard report emphasized the need for a massive scaling up of testing coupled with a robust contact-tracing program to reopen the country in a way that avoids future shutdowns.  Meanwhile, Mueller says a newly formed COVID-19 task force in Fond du Lac County is a  good way to help prepare businesses for when the community and state is ready to reopen.  There are now 70 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Fond du Lac County.