Eau Claire County issues new COVID-19 order

The Eau Claire City-County Health Department today issued a new local health order that takes effect at midnight tonight. Now permitted in this new order are indoor public gatherings of up to 50 people and up to 100 people in outdoor public gatherings. One-on-one personal service providers are recommended to not exceed 20 clients per day.

Public gatherings are those planned events with a number of people in attendance that could strain the planning and response resources, including public health and community health care resources, of the community hosting the event, such as a concert, festival, conference, or sporting event. Gatherings of any kind outside of a household unit shall exercise physical distancing and comply with all other requirements for public spaces and public buildings found in section 2 of the order. Organizers of public gatherings are still required to document contact information of attendees for contact tracing purposes, and actively screen and prevent attendance of individuals, including staff, volunteers, and attendees, who have symptoms of COVID-19.

The other requirements and recommendations for individuals, businesses, public spaces, personal one-on-one services, and indoor public gatherings remain in effect including:

• Individuals are strongly encouraged to stay at home or their place of residence, minimize travel outside of the county, and keep their number of connections small

• Restrictions for both public spaces and public buildings, such as physical distancing and limitations on the number of people present at one time

• Religious gatherings and other 1st Amendment-protected activities are exempt

• Elderly and vulnerable people are encouraged to take additional precautions

• All businesses, facilities, playgrounds, campgrounds and other amenities may open and operate unless they are unable to meet and maintain the safety and protection measures outlined in the order

• Use of the WEDC guidance for business reopening by businesses that can first meet the requirements of the local order

• All individuals are strongly encouraged to continue maintaining physical distancing, good hand washing, covering coughs and sneezes, cleaning high-touch surfaces, not shaking hands, and follow other WI DHS and CDC recommendations

This order will be in effect until June 24, 2020. 

The Health Department today also released the Respond Together Eau Claire Plan. The purpose of this plan is to help to think about when and how various community-level activities can more safely happen. It outlines a plan for when different COVID-19 prevention and safety measures are necessary. “Everyone in the community has a critical role to play in meeting the goal of reducing disease spread,” said Lieske Giese, Director/Health Officer of the Health Department. “By working together, we all can contribute to keeping people healthy and safe while moving Eau Claire County forward.”