County Executive Parisi's March Update

A monthly update from Dane County Executive Joe Parisi
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“Light the Night” Tribute at Alliant Energy Center:
Honoring Those We've Lost to COVID-19

On March 1, Dane County and the City of Madison hosted a community memorial at the Alliant Energy Center in honor of the 273 Dane County residents who lost their lives to COVID-19.

Police, Fire, and EMS agencies from across Dane County participated in a "Light the Night" tribute. Following opening remarks honoring those we have lost, their families, and the frontline workers who cared for them, emergency agencies activated their emergency lights.

This light memorial ran for 27 minutes - one minute for every 10 Dane County lives lost. Click here to watch the ceremony.

There are more than 40,600 people who have tested positive for coronavirus in Dane County. More than 39,500 of those individuals have recovered. Visit Public Health's Data Dashboard for the latest on COVID-19 case counts, hospitalizations, deaths, tests by date, and more.

Emergency Order #14 was issued March 2 and went into effect on March 10. It increases gathering sizes, updates the school protective measure policy requirements, allows restaurants to open to 50% capacity, and allows taverns to open to 25% capacity, with certain safety requirements. Click here to learn more.

There are Many Options for COVID-19 Testing in Dane County:

Via your mailbox -- The Wisconsin Department of Health Services offers a service for requesting a test kit delivered to your mailbox. Find details on their website.
Your healthcare provider -- If you have health insurance, we recommend contacting your healthcare provider to see if they are able to test you.
Alliant Energy Center -- This community testing site is open Tuesday through Saturday for people ages 5 and older.
UW-Madison -- UW-Madison has testing available on campus for students and staff members.
South Madison Community Test Site -- This community testing site is open Mondays and Wednesdays for people ages 4 and older.

For a list of testing sites throughout the state, visit the Wisconsin Department of Health Services website.

Community partners are coming together to help Dane County complete a 160-acre addition & restoration to the Pheasant Branch Conservancy. Organizations have already collected $70,000 in donations for the project that will add onto the popular outdoor destination.

The Tenant Resource Center is now accepting preapplications for the approx. $15 million in funding available through the Dane CORE Emergency Rental Assistance Program.

We reconvened the Sustainability Leaders Collaborative virtually last month to celebrate clean energy & sustainability accomplishments taking place in a number of our local communities.

I joined La Movida Radio to discuss our Small Business Pandemic Support Grant Program & the ways Dane County is supporting our Latino community throughout the pandemic.

Thanks to a recent $25,000 donation, Dane County will be able to construct an accessible kayak landing at Fish Camp County Park in McFarland. The contribution furthers Dane County's efforts to make outdoor recreation accessible to people of all abilities.

We celebrated the graduation of our first "Framing the Future" cohort. The program furthers our efforts to improve equity in our community & provide staff with the opportunity to advance their career goals.

The US Department of Energy will give Dane County, the City of Madison, & local nonprofit Slipstream nearly $1 million to improve our energy efficiency at the City-County Building.

Dane County Regional Airport will host its 2nd annual “Flight of Lights” drive-through light display. It's free of charge & will open Saturday, March 20, running daily from 7:30PM until 11:30PM through April 4.

For more information about what Dane County is up to follow us below on social media, contact my office, or check out our website.

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