19 people who tested positive for COVID-19 after April 9 voted in-person, worked at polls
MILWAUKEE -- The Wisconsin Department of Health Services on Wednesday, April 22 said 19 people who tested positive for COVID-19 after Thursday, April 9 reported that they voted in-person or worked the polls on Election Day.
The DHS noted that several of those people reported other possible exposures as well.
Julie Willems Van Dijk
"We have correlation. They voted, they were at the polls, but we do not have causation," said Julie Willems Van Dijk, DHS deputy secretary. "They are all people who could have had exposure at other places."
The DHS is now working to track down just how many COVID-19 cases in total stemmed from in-person voting, or working the polls on Election Day. Still, Willems Van Dijk said there is no way to know with complete certainty that those people were infected at a polling place. When it comes to identifying others who may have been exposed to those who tested positive, she said it is not possible to notify everyone. However, contact tracers are working to identify the people who had close contact.
(Photo by Andy Manis/Getty Images)
For example, Willems Van Dijk said, if a poll worker who tested positive worked alongside others all day, those people would be notified. However, she said that someone standing in line -- especially someone who socially distanced, six feet apart-- is at lower risk of exposure.
Jeanette Kowalik
As of Monday, April 20, Milwaukee Health Commissioner Jeanette Kowalik said seven people in Milwaukee County have become infected as a result of Election Day-related activities and tells FOX6 News that she hopes to provide more details on Friday.
Meantime, of the nearly 2,500 Wisconsin National Guard members who worked at polling places on Election Day, Maj. Gen. Paul Knapp said five have reported symptoms of the virus. One of those five people was tested; the test came back negative.
Since the two-week incubation period following Election Day has passed, officials said that anyone who was exposed on Tuesday, April 7 most likely would have already started showing symptoms.
Statement from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services:
"Public health officials continue to interview people who have tested positive with COVID-19 and query whether someone has reported voting in person or working at the polls. Since we only have data on positive cases (without a comparison group of people who were not tested or tested negative), there is no way to know with certainty if any exposures at the polls that are reported are in fact attributable to COVID-19 illness."