When the Oneida County Health Department hosted a COVID-19 testing clinic on Wednesday, it didn’t take long for appointments to fill up.
“We advertised at about 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday night on Facebook and by the morning we were full,” says Linda Conlon, the health department’s director.
Wednesday’s clinic wasn’t the only testing site to experience high demand.
Conlon says the national guard stationed in Rhinelander did triple the number of tests it usually does during its Tuesday clinic and double the number last Saturday.
Because of rising caseloads, the National Guard is extending testing in Rhinelander until the end of January.
Marshfield Clinic is extending its hours, too, to meet rising demand for tests in Minocqua.
With all this testing going on, a lot of people are getting positive results.
“Quite a few came back positive as we know from our case numbers growing tremendously,” Conlon says.
The Oneida County Health Department reported 57 new cases on Wednesday.
Since December 30, there have been nearly 200 new cases of the virus in the county.
“They are getting close to our highest numbers,” Conlon says.
And those numbers don’t include positive results from at-home COVID tests, so it could be an underestimate.
From now on, the department asks people who test positive for COVID with an at-home test to report those results using an online form or by calling in.
There are so many positive COVID cases that the health department can no longer contact everyone who tests positive.
Health workers are asking people to quarantine according to CDC guidelines.
