Wood County, Wisconsin

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

03/24/20

CONTACT: Susan Kunferman, Wood County Health Department Director/Health Officer

(715) 421-8911

                                                    SAFER AT HOME

Wisconsin Rapids, WI -- Today Governor Evers’ announced a Safer at Home order effective at 8:00 a.m. on Wednesday, March 25. Individuals in the State of Wisconsin are ordered to stay at home or at their place of residence, unless providing essential services or completing essential tasks. All non-essential businesses must close. Please stay home if you can, you are safer at home. 

Under the Safer at Home order, Wisconsin residents are able to complete essential tasks including: 

• Perform tasks essential to maintain health and safety, such as obtaining medicine or seeing a doctor;
• Get necessary services or supplies for themselves or their family or household members, such as getting food and supplies, pet food and supplies necessary for staying at home;
• Care for a family member in another household; and
• Care for older adults, minors, dependents, people with disabilities or other vulnerable persons.

Businesses allowed to operate under the Safer at Home order include: 

• Health care operations, including home health workers;
• Critical infrastructure;
• Businesses that provide food, shelter, and social services, and other necessities of life for economically disadvantaged or otherwise vulnerable individuals;
• Fresh and non-perishable food retailers, including convenience stores, grocery stores, farmers’ markets, and food banks;
• Businesses that ship or deliver groceries, food and goods directly to residences;
• Pharmacies, health care supply stores and health care facilities;
• Child care facilities, with some limitations; 
• Gas stations and auto repair facilities;
• Banks;
• Laundry businesses, dry cleaners and services necessary for maintaining the safety, sanitation and essential operation of a residence, including garbage collection;
• Hardware stores, plumbers, and electricians;
• Educational institutions, for the purposes of facilitating distance learning;
• Roles required for any business to maintain minimum basic operations, which includes security, and payroll; and  
• Law and safety, and essential government functions will continue under the recommended action.

For a full list of essential businesses or if you are unsure if your business qualifies as essential, go to wedc.org/essentialbusiness for more information; Gov. Evers’ full order is available here . Non-essential

businesses must close or they may be subject to fines or imprisonment. Individuals who leave their home to attend to essential business or tasks outlined above do not need to carry documentation of their destination at this time.  

Public health officials are using the term social or physical distancing. At this time it is the only effective means of slowing the rate of infection.  Limit your contacts overall; no dinner parties, no sleep overs, no kids at the playgrounds, no gathering; people need to be in contact with as few people as possible. 

If you have been contacted by your local public health department or told by a physician to stay in isolation, you need to stay isolated. If you have returned from an area with known community spread of the virus, you should self-quarantine for 14 days. Failing to stay in isolation can result in $10,000 fine or imprisonment. These measures would be drastic; ideally, these measures are followed voluntarily. Enforcement is not something local officials want to have to do. 

Everyone has a role in working together to prepare for what is ahead of us. Take some time and think about how you and your friends and family are handling the implications of the pandemic. Connect with loved ones by phone or video chat. Do not hesitate to ask for help if you are feeling overwhelmed. Call 1-800-985-5990 or text 66747 to speak or text with a trained crisis specialist. 

Stay home, stay well.  

For general questions about COVID-19 please call 2-1-1. For up-to-date information please visit the Wood County Health Department website and Facebook.