July 23, 2020 – Hartford, WI – It was July 10, 2020 when officials at Hartford City Hall confirmed three cases of Covid-19 linked to a family who worked for the City.
“One particular case was three members of a family who work for us in different departments,” said City administrator Steve Volkert. “They came to work with it, they did not catch it here. They were all tested and sent home and never worked a day after that. They have mild cases and are recovering quickly.”
Volkert said the City conducted its own contact tracing per CDC guidelines. “We tested those people who had been within 6 feet and those who spent 15 minutes with the employees and the results came back negative,” Volkert said.
“We had two others work in the same department and those tests came back positive. The City did contact tracing and everyone else also came back negative.”
The City of Hartford, according to Volkert, monitors employees daily who have direct contact with the general public including the Rec Center, the aquatic center and the Jack Russell Memorial Library.
“All employees have their temperatures taken before they get to work, they wear masks, they are behind plexiglass, and we have not had any other case of people having symptoms,” said Volkert. “We anticipate the five individuals will be back to work next week after 14 days of quarantine and no symptoms for three days prior to coming back.”
Volkert said if any of the employees show signs of symptoms they will not be allowed back until they can clear three days without symptoms.
Following the confirmed cases Volker said all department heads and all departments at Hartford City Hall were made aware. “We’ve always had precautions in place to test before you come in, test when you get here, and wear a mask if you’re in public,” he said.
Volkert said one person was a morning employee at the aquatic center and that person would not have had contact with the public. “As soon as we found out, that person was taken off the schedule, no other staff reported symptoms,” said Volkert.
To protect the community, Volkert said all touch surfaces were heavily sprayed at Hartford City Hall, Hartford Rec Center and the aquatic center. “We sent a note to the Wash/Oz Health Department that the ‘Office has been heavily sprayed by electrostatic sprayer with non-fuming, non-standing tri-chloride-based sanitizer,’” said Volkert.
“We never closed City Hall and we cleaned the entire area and very quickly did all the contact tracing and took care of everything,” said Volkert. “We made sure all the residents were safe.”
Update from Washington / Ozaukee Health Department
The Washington/Ozaukee Health Department listed Hartford City Hall on its COVID-19 Dashboard.
Bailey Murph is with the Wash/Oz Health Department. “We have updated our risk status,” said Murph. “We are only issuing recommendations for people to follow, it is not required. We are simply providing guidance.”
“We have never required restaurants to restrict their capacity it has just been a recommendation,” she said. ”
Murph said businesses will be posted to the Covid-19 outbreak dashboard if they have two positive cases; a care facility will be listed if there is one person who tests positive.
Questioned whether it would be clearer if the Health Department would put in writing that the recommendations will not be enforced. Murph said, “I suppose we could but we haven’t changed our stance from the beginning. We would put out a press release or a formal order if another safer at home order is issued.”
