FRANKLIN — The Milwaukee County House of Corrections is planning to do a soft opening of their alternate care facility in Franklin on Saturday.
One 30-person capacity dorm will open on Saturday to treat staff and justice-involved individuals infected with COVID-19.
Wellpath, Milwaukee County’s contracted provider of correctional healthcare, will provide the care and Milwaukee County Sheriff Deputies and HOC Correctional Officers will provide security to staff the facility.
The alternate care facility was built in March but hasn't been needed. However, with rising cases of COVID across the state, Milwaukee County is ready to open part of it.
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“The additional capacity at the ACF will allow for greater isolation needed on the ground to treat those who are infected and control the spread of the disease," said Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley.
The House of Corrections conducted testing across all its facilities last week. That testing resulted in several dozen positive tests among staff and individuals in HOC care.
They immediately began quarantining patients and conducting contact tracing. Opening the ACF is just another method of stopping the spread within the facilities.
The alternate care facility will house asymptomatic and low-acuity patients, County Executive Crowley said in a press release Wednesday.
No patients outside of the House of Corrections will be sent to the alternate care facility. However, "the County remains open to working with the State and regional partners on housing and treating justice-involved individuals when a formal request is made," Crowley said.
As of Wednesday, there are 145 positive COVID-19 cases in the House of Corrections facilities. About half of those were known positive cases transferred from the Milwaukee County Jail.
However, Crowley said all of these patients are either experiencing mild symptoms or no symptoms at all.