'Have to remain vigilant:' Waukesha Co. release plans to help stop the spread of COVID-19 as school gets underway

WAUKESHA, Wis. (CBS 58) – Waukesha County is planning ahead for fall as the COVID-19 pandemic continues.

On Tuesday, September 1, a new community testing location was opened at the Waukesha County Expo Center.

The county is focusing on a four-pronged approach for stopping the spread of COVID-19 as part of the ‘Stay Safe to Stay Open’ campaign.

The county is focusing on contact tracing, testing, data collection and educational partnerships.

To help, more than 200 new contact tracers have been hired and an online dashboard was created to help track cases around the area.

The county’s public health officer said the numbers of cases have gone down since July, with around 46 new cases per day in the last week.

Despite the encouraging numbers, local leaders urge everyone to continue practicing safe measures like social distancing and wearing masks to help stop the spread as school and fall gets underway with flu season on the horizon.

"What we want people to realize if this isn’t going away," Waukesha County Executive Paul Farrow said. "We have to be vigilant in what we do, have to maintain our practices that we’ve had throughout the first six months, but then we also have to prepare."

An appointment is not required at the community testing site. More information can be found here.