Milwaukee daily new COVID-19 cases have trended downward for six weeks; health commissioner says it’s thanks to masks and messaging – Milwaukee…

Milwaukee County has seen a six-week decline in positive COVID-19 cases, signaling that measures taken by the county and theCity of Milwaukee could be helping slow the spread of the disease.

"I definitely believe that the mask ordinance is helping," said city Commissioner of Health Jeanette Kowalik. "When you look at other communities across the country, you could see the rates were better than the ones that didn't have them."

Though Kowalik did also credit other efforts, she put an emphasis on the city's mask mandate, which went into effect July 16.

A downward trend in average new positive cases per day began around the same time. The seven-day average in Milwaukee was at one of itshighest points July 11 at about 197 positive cases per day.The average has continued to drop every week since then withthe seven-day average at about 46 positive cases per day as of the end of last week.

As of Thursday, however, the city was not at a point where it met the threshold for loosening up any restrictions, according to the health department's onlinecriteria for phased reopening.

The focus on enforcingthe face mask ordinance in Milwaukee has been on businesses. Kowalik said shelooked atother cities and saw mask ordinances, and the ruleswere not equallyapplied when enforced on citizens.

"With businesses, we're not just targeting a certain part of town," she said. "Most of the initial discussions are related to complaints. We have teams of food inspectors who are assigned various zones, and they see violations."

As of Aug. 25, 25 businesses have been warned of violating the city mask ordinance. Fiesta Cafe, S.1407 FirstSt., was issued three citations at $500 each for violating the city face mask ordinance.

City of Milwaukee Health Commissioner Jeanette Kowalik holds a sign from the 1940s while speaking at a Public Safety and Health Committee meeting about coronavirus preparations March 5 at City Hall.(Photo: Mark Hoffman / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

Along with the mask ordinance, the city's Common Council also voted to provide free face masks for citizens.

The health department's goal is to give every personinMilwaukee three to seven washable, cloth face masks.

The masks have a city logo on them and areproduced by a combination of local and national vendors.

While Kowalik said face masks are helping, national disease experts are cautious to make the direct connection.

"It is hard to find these causal relationships,"Nasia Safdar, a professor of infectious diseases at University of Wisconsin-Madison, told the Journal Sentinel.

Safdar said wearing masks should be considered along with other measures, such as whether people are physically distancing or staying homeand if people are wearing masks properly.

Kowalik also said a combination of things could be helping.

Milwaukee businesses will be required to meet safety standards laid out by the health department. Early adapters of these standards have been ableto open their business at full capacity, while other businesses have had to stay at the city's required 50% capacity.

Messaging has also been key.

"I think at this point messaging is where it needs to be versus where it was in April," she said.

The city has been able to provide more messages to groups that speak different languages, like the Hmong community and various Latino communities. Information instructspeople to wear face masks, remember to wash their hands and avoid touching their faces.

Kowalik noted that people also have been distancing better when at parks and other places around the city.

Still, she said, she thinks the face mask ordinance has been a big help in decreasing daily cases.

"We don't have timefor a full gold standard study," she said. "By all means academics should run studies while we're doing the work. On the ground, we need less talk, more action."

With summer coming to an end, Kowalik is concerned about an increase in COVID-19 cases as people are forced inside.

"I am extremely concerned about that," she said. "Limiting how many people are in enclosed space is going to be important."

"Cleaning high touch areas, wiping down after each use, hand washing or using sanitizer when you don't have access to a sink" are ways to stay safe when spending more time indoors, Kowalik said.

The health department is also working to keep testing for COVID-19 at a high capacity.

Kowalik spoke out against the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's new testing guidelines that say only symptomatic people need testing. It is important for those exposed to COVID-19 to get testing even if they are asymptomatic, Kowalik said, for tracking purposes.

More: This change in policy will kill: Experts troubled by CDC changes to COVID-19 testing guidelines

The city health department is working on having two COVID-19 testing sites put in place in October in case the National Guard testing sites go away, as planned.

Kowalik will be leaving the department for a job with a national health policy group in Washington, D.C. She said the Milwaukee Health Department is left in good hands, but still has some work to do.

Kowalik also gave a warning for people to be cautious over the upcoming Labor Day weekend.

"I know we miss loving on one another, but be mindful in interactions and do things in a distanced way," Kowalik said. "And wear a mask."

Our subscribers make this reporting possible. Please consider supporting local journalism by subscribing to the Journal Sentinel at jsonline.com/deal.

Read or Share this story: https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/local/milwaukee/2020/09/03/milwaukee-daily-new-covid-19-cases-have-trended-downward-six-weeks/5695974002/

Read more here:

Milwaukee daily new COVID-19 cases have trended downward for six weeks; health commissioner says it's thanks to masks and messaging - Milwaukee...