Fines authorized for quarantine violations
By Dean Lesar The TRG
Clark County sheriffs deputies now have the authority to fine citizens who knowingly violate isolation/quarantine orders associated with COVID-19.
Based on the county board’s action in Neillsville on July 16, the county health officer can request that law enforcement issue a citation of not less than $100 nor more than $500 to any resident who does not comply with an order to stay quarantined or isolated if they are known to have coronavirus or been in close contact with someone who has. On a 25-2 vote, the board approved the second reading of an amendment that adds the enforcement penalty power under the county’s “Dis-
See CITATIONS/ Page 11 ease Control” ordinance. Supervisors Duane Boon and Bill Neville of Neillsville cast the dissenting votes.
Health officer Brittany Mews told the board in June and again at last week’s session that her department continues to deal with citizens who will not comply with orders to stay isolated once they test positive for COVID-19 or through contact tracing been found to have shared space with someone who has.
The ordinance already gave the health officer the authority to “take all measures necessary to prevent, suppress and control communicable diseases” but included no forfeiture penalty provisions. The county had the option to take a noncompliant person to court for a possible injunction, but that process can take time and would be of no use when it is determined a person needs to be isolated immediately to avoid infecting others.
As of July 16, Mews said there were 39 active COVID cases in the county and another 106 people who were asked to stay isolated because they had contact with an infected person. That number changes daily, as new positive tests emerge and others who’ve had the virus finish their 14-day isolation period. As of last week, the county had 127 total positive tests, with 10 of them hospitalized at one time or another, and seven deaths.
Mews said the ordinance change is needed to give her some immediate action to take to urge people to isolate.
“We still, unfortunately, are experiencing non-compliance,” Mews said.
Mews said she and staff members have also been dealing with “verbally aggressive individuals” and “uncooperative businesses” as they attempt to keep at home those who have COVID or been in contact with someone who has.
Under the new ordinance, if Mews identifies someone who will not abide by an isolation/quarantine order, she will contact the sheriff’s department, and it will send an officer to issue a citation.
Asked if his department will follow through, Sheriff Scott Haines said, “If it’s a blatant violation … yes, we will.”
Since this is a county ordinance, local city officers cannot enforce it, he noted.
Mews said positive test results continue to occur in Clark County and have increased in recent days, as they have across Wisconsin. She said the numbers are not rising solely because more tests are being administered.
“It’s not because there’s been more testing occurring, which is a common myth out there,” she said. “These numbers are the result of community spread within Wisconsin.”
Mews said her department is developing a testing strategy for the county to help find more cases and allow health workers to do contact tracing work and get all impacted people in isolation to slow the spread. Face masks, social distancing, avoidance of crowds and hand washing will still go a long way toward that goal too.
“I ask you to please follow simple safety precautions,” she said.
Mews noted that she has not placed any restrictions on gathering sizes in the county, even though she can if she feels it is warranted. She said it’s not the size of a crowd that matters most, but whether people can stay six feet apart.
“The number really doesn’t matter if the precautions are being followed,” she said.
In other COVID-related action, the board voted 17-10 to establish a policy in the county’s employee handbook to deal with situations brought about by a public health risk. The new policy gives the county administrative coordinator and county board chairman direction for advising departments and employees on guidelines to follow during a disease outbreak. Those may include “strongly encouraging” use of face masks and physical distancing, restriction of access to county facilities, and encouraging employees to work from home.
Supervisor Fred Schindler of Curtiss said the policy gives the administrative coordinator and board chairman authority to implement practices that should be approved by the full board.
“It seems like this gives an awful lot of power that the county board won’t have a say in. It’s too much power,” he said.
Supervisor Sharon Rogers of Greenwood said some of the policy provisions are not being adhered to now, so she wondered why they should be set as policy.
“I just think this is kind of useless ordinance if it’s not going to be followed,” she said.
Another resolution passed last week calls for board chairman Wayne Hendrickson of Unity and vice chairman Joe Waichulis of Thorp to remain in their seats through the 2020-22 term, even though they were not re-elected to them in April as they would normally be.
In April, the board suspended its officer elections in the normal time frame due to COVID-19, and also did not change any committee assignments. The resolution on the table last week called for the board to “bypass” the traditional reorganization process and let officers and committees stand through April 2022.
If it did not pass, Hendrickson said the board would then go through the officer elections and committee appointment process in August.
Rogers asked why the board wouldn’t hold new elections as normal.
“Why are we doing this? We’ve said there’s no COVID emergency,” she said, referring to measure passed in June to end the emergency declaration and reopen county facilities to the public.
The resolution passed on a 14-13 vote so Hendrickson and Waichulis will retain their seats and all committee assignments will stay as they have been.
