MILWAUKEE — Stay home. That's the big ask that was made by city health leaders and Mayor Tom Barrett on Tuesday.
They spoke in front of the Miller Park COVID-19 testing site where city leaders are pushing for testing and people to change their holiday plans this year.
The push is to continue to be tested and stay home for the holidays. While that is a tall order, they are doing this so you will not have to plan a funeral next year.
“We're overall concerned about any celebration where people are outside of their home, that’s whether they’re outside in a bar or whether they’re at Gram's house, or wherever. We want people to stay home, we want people to pare down,” said Marlaina Jackson, the acting commissioner for the City of Milwaukee Health Department.
She is hoping there will not be a spike after Christmas and New Years' celebrations. Right now the percent positive rate for the city of Milwaukee is at 10.4 percent. That’s about where we were in August. Health leaders would like to see that number under five-percent.
Mayor Tom Barrett is keeping an eye on the vaccine distribution.
”I can guarantee you I’m going to fight for everything I can for the city of Milwaukee because we have some very vulnerable populations here and that is part of what we need to do now is to be vigilant in making sure the distribution is equitable as well," Barrett said.
The doctor at the COVID-19 testing site outside Miller Park says thousands of more people could come to be tested here each week. He speculates that fewer people are coming out to get tested because of the news of the vaccines.
He expects the testing site outside of Miller Park to be there through summer of 2021.
Click here to find a COVID-19 testing site near you.