In the final installment of the Kenosha County Joint Information Center’s COVID-19 FAQ series, Kenosha County Division of Health Communicable Disease Supervisor Amanda Tuura summarizes the public guidance in the Kenosha County Kickstart plan, and Health Officer Dr. Jen Freiheit offers a message on COVID-19 in our community.
The Kickstart plan, released earlier this week, includes advisory best practices for businesses and individuals — in a phased approach that aims to save lives while bringing back our economy. It is aligned with the state’s Badger Bounce Back plan.
The public guidance for all phases of the plan includes the following recommendations:
- Masks or cloth face coverings are strongly recommended for all public activities for anyone who can wear them (recognizing that those with certain medical or physical conditions may not be able to)
- Physical distancing of 6 feet or more between individuals not of the same household
- Continuation of washing your hands often with soap and water or use hand sanitizer, especially after touching frequently used items or surfaces
- Avoidance of touching your face
- Sneezing or coughing into a tissue, or the inside of your elbow
- Disinfecting frequently used items and surfaces
- People who feel sick should stay home should:
- Stay home
- Do not go to work or school
- Remove themselves from congregate settings, especially if around vulnerable individuals
- Contact and follow the advice of a medical provider
The plan will move from the current phase to Phase 2 when the following are sustained:
- A 10% decrease of influenza-like illnesses reported within a 14-day period
- A 10% decrease of COVID-19-like symptom cases reported within a 14-day period
- A downward trend 10% or less with positive tests as a percent of total tests within a 14-day period
- 95% of our hospitals affirm that they can treat all patients without crisis care
- 95% of our hospitals affirm that they have arranged for testing for all symptomatic clinical staff treating patients at the hospital per CDC guidelines
- A 10% decrease in cases among health care workers for 14-plus days
The public can view the full plan at https://bit.ly/KCKickstart.
And now, here is Kenosha County Health Officer Dr. Jen Freiheit, with a final message about COVID-19 in our community:
“Hello, Kenosha County. Thank you so much for bearing with us during this pandemic. Thank you for being safe, and for taking care of yourself and your loved ones.
“We want to continue to take this virus seriously and to remain as safe as possible.
“And the ways that you can do that are by wearing a mask any time you’re out in public. By staying home when you’re sick – and that means even if you just have a slight sickness, like a tickle in your throat. Mild symptoms that we normally used to power through and go to work with, this is not the time to power through that. We want to ensure that you stay home when you’re sick, so that we are not spreading anything throughout the community.
“We also want to make sure that you’re limiting gatherings, that we’re not going back to business as usual, because the virus is still very much here in Kenosha County.
“So we want to encourage you to remain vigilant, wear a mask, practice social distancing, keep your contacts limited to your household as much as possible, and to stay safe by washing your hands for 20 seconds and practicing good cough and sneeze hygiene, into your elbow.
“We thank you for everything that you’re doing to help the rest of the community stay safe.
“If you are feeling sick, we want to ensure that you get tested. Please do seek COVID-19 testing, but be patient, because it is now taking up to seven days to get results back. And during that time, we do ask that you stay isolated to home until you do get your results.
“We also want to assure that you have the most up-to-date information and that you can follow all of that transparent information on our Kenosha County COVID-19 hub website at www.kenoshacounty.org/covid-19, where we put the latest gating criteria and all the data so that you can see where Kenosha County sits.
“Thank you, and we hope that you have a safe and healthy summer.”
Videos of this and past FAQ sessions are available on YouTube at http://bit.ly/KCCOVIDplaylist and on the Kenosha County Government Facebook page, at www.facebook.com/kenoshacountygovt.