Health officials and city leaders are seeing a spike in COVID-19 cases hitting the city of Beloit harder than other Rock County communities.
City Manager Lori Curtis-Luther called it a “dramatic increase” in the number of positive cases over the last 72 hours, which she attributes to recent outbreaks at food processing plants in the area.
“Social distancing is as important now as it’s ever been,” Curtis-Luther said at Monday’s city council meeting. “The risk of infection to our residents continues to be very real, and we implore you to stay vigilant.”
Beloit Health System reported 190 positive cases of COVID-19 tested at its facilities as of Monday, while the health department reported a total of 289 cases in the entire county.
The health system’s testing has produced 65.7 percent of the county’s positive COVID-19 cases, while Beloit’s population represents less than 25 percent of the county.
BHS is expanding its testing capacity, but it’s 920 total tests conducted still only accounts for 33.6 percent of all COVID-19 testing so far in Rock County.
Curtis-Luther said a major culprit is the outbreak at the Bird’s Eye food processing plant in Dairen, which has seen over 100 positive cases and employs many Beloit residents.
The Walworth County Health Department requested assistance from the Wisconsin National Guard to assist with testing and contact tracing at the facility.
Beloit has also seen eight employees at the Hormel Foods plant test positive for COVID-19 as of Monday, and the nearby Frito-Lay facility has two positive cases.
