MADISON (WKOW) — Since the pandemic began, Public Health Madison and Dane County (PHMDC) has identified more than 550 clusters of disease spread, accounting for more than a quarter of all cases.
PHMDC defines a cluster as two or more cases associated with the same location, group, or event around the same time.
During the summer health officials were most concerned about groups of cases coming from bars and restaurants.
But that has started to improve because capacity has decreased.
“Businesses have done the work, they’ve created the plans for cleaning for return to work practices,” Zach Brandon, President of the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce, said. “They fully understand how to mitigate any risk that might come in.”
Brandon has been championing the hard work of local businesses for months, urging PHMDC to lessen some of their restrictions for the businesses that aren’t causing more spread.
Last week, PHMDC shared a snapshot into their cluster data, showing that bars and restaurants accounted for just a small portion of the nearly 4,000 cases that happened during that time.
However there was one cluster that overshadowed all the others: that from private workplaces like offices.
“It’s just a good reminder that there’s no single place that’s safe and every place that’s indoors is going to carry some risk,” Ajay Sethi, with UW Madison Population Health, said.
During that one month timeframe, there were 34 different clusters of spread in workplaces, as opposed to 14 from bars, restaurants and large gatherings combined.
Brandon says businesses are safe enough for people to continue supporting the local economy because they’re following the rules.
“The vast majority of infections are still occurring where people are making individual decisions outside workplaces and regulated establishments.”
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