MADISON, Wis. – As important as it is to isolate if you are or may be infected with COVID-19, it can take a toll.
Public Health Madison & Dane County offers isolation support services in an effort to make sure people have what they need during isolation, which can last up to 10 to 14 days.
The program, which began at the end of April, has helped more than 1,800 families. It’s funded by the Federal CARES Act.
“This whole program is really protecting the public but also protecting the family itself,” said Natalie Kahlow, an isolation support specialist. “We’re encouraging families to certainly stay in their home, and we’re trying to give them everything they possibly can to stay in the home.”
PHMDC staff members have stayed busy over the past several months letting people know they are or may be COVID positive.
“That day they could have been wanting to go the grocery store, and our public health specialists are saying, ‘Hey you have to isolate, because you’re either COVID positive or a close case,’” Kahlow said.
Public health officials don’t stop there. Isolation support specialists like Kahlow can point to available resources in the area and offer some of their own.
“It can vary between rent assistance, energy assistance,” she said. “We give gift card money.”
That money that can be used for delivery of supplies including food items, cleaning supplies and toiletries.
“If there’s an infant at home out of formula, (families ask) ‘How do I get that formula so I can feed my baby?’” Kahlow said. “We talk about all the strategies possible for curbside pickup, delivery from pharmacies, everything related to that.”
Following a surge in COVID cases in the fall, the service is in higher demand than at the start of the pandemic.
“We would do between five and 10 referrals a day for isolation support,” Kahlow said. “Now we’re doing up to 70 a day.”
She encourages anyone with questions about isolation to ask the public health contact tracers or their health care provider
PHMDC’s isolation support services program is set to go through at least the end of the year.
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