Health officials may expand COVID testing in southern parts of Milwaukee and surrounding county

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Milwaukee health leaders say COVID-19 numbers overall county wide are improving, but there are concerns about a lack of testing in certain parts of the community.

They point to a low number of tests, combined with a higher percentage of positive cases as a reason for concern in the southern part of Milwaukee as well as Milwaukee County's southern suburbs.

Testing has fallen for the eighth straight week in Milwaukee County, although there was a bump Monday at the two National Guard testing sites.

County Emergency Medical Services Director Ben Weston said they're considering expanding testing in those southern portions of the community.

He said the county is nearing the point where too little testing is being done, meaning health departments may not have enough information on the spread of the disease.

"We're still within our kind of yellow zone, which is two thousand to four thousand tests per day, certainly if we fall below two thousand and hit the red zone, it's going to be harder to understand what is going on in the county," said Weston.

Weston said health officials believe people may not be getting tested out of fear of impacting whether kids can go back to school, or whether they can go back to work. He also acknowledged people are growing tired of the disease, but he said its still here and active.