Wisconsin Health Department to Determine if In-Person Primary Voting Resulted in New COVID-19 Cases

Wisconsin’s Health Department is “monitoring” whether Tuesday’s primary election resulted in the spread of the coronavirus among voters. Local public health officials will be tracking the COVID-19 cases in the coming weeks to determine if the decision to have in-person elections contributed to a rise in new virus patients, just as hospitals across the state released data showing medical workers are overwhelmed and a week away from running out of supplies. “We hope the extraordinary efforts taken by local clerks, public health, voters, and poll workers helped minimize any transmission but we stand prepared to respond if that isn’t the case,” DHS Secretary Andrea Palm told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in a statement. Thousands of voters went to the polls in Wisconsin on Tuesday after Gov. Tony Evers’ failed last-minute attempt to postpone the election. Public health officials had warned that in-person voting could reverse the progress the state has made to curtail the spread of the virus. Palm told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel if voters were exposed to the virus, DHS and local public health officials will begin to see a surge in new cases as early as next week. “This information will allow our surveillance epidemiologists the opportunity to identify if the election had any impact on the spread of COVID-19 in Wisconsin,” she said.