While much of Wisconsin is failing at fighting the coronavirus, the Universities are succeeding. Dr. Deborah Brix suggested Wisconsin's legislature look to what the Universities are doing and use it as a model for keeping the epidemic under control.
What is the key? Four things, testing capacity, contact tracing, weekly monitoring, and mask use. The testing capacity allows the UW to test anyone. If you are identified as positive, contract tracers immediately track down all of your contacts and test them, moving those who are positive away from the general population. Weekly monitoring, of both students and faculty, makes it possible to keep a lid on the silent spread of the virus. I am part of the population that gets monitored and I get tested every week. It's simple and fast. Finally, mask use decreases the chances of transmission.
The result? While we had an initial spike of cases, partly due to students not taking the rules seriously, and mostly due to just a huge bunch of people coming together from all across the country, our positivity rate is now less than 1%. I am so proud of my students. They have adapted to the situation and have proven all the neigh-sayers wrong. Can the rest of the state learn from our success? it's not too late.