Wisconsin National Guard members have been active in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic and a handful of guard members have gotten ill.
Wisconsin National Guard Adjutant General Major General Paul Knapp says the Guard has been active in a number of areas, including testing and logistics. He says they mobilized more than 2,400 guard members to serve as poll workers in their home counties during the recent election. Florence was the only county without guard members working the polls.
Major General Knapp says they have had positive COVID cases within the Guard...
"We have had five National Guard members report symptoms of COVID since working at the polling places and of those five, one was tested and the result came back negative..."
DHS Assistant Secretary Julie Willems Van Dijk says they've had reports of illness after the election...
"We have been asking people if they have had exposure at the election as I last spoke with our staff last evening. There are 15 people who tested positive for COVID who also voted or worked as a poll worker..."
Willems Van Dijk says they can't be certain that the new COVID cases were caused by the election. Major General Knapp says they have a supply of special masks that they are trained on to use should the personal protection supplies run short.
