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Amiyah Vance was back in the water Friday, a day after she almost drowned in Monona.  Her mother, Cheri Cederwall, wants to say thank you to the stranger who jumped in the water to rescue her five-year-old daughter.  She said a couple of eyewitnesses have reached out to provide details as to the rescuer.  “He’s a hero,” Cederwall told the Madison State Journal. 

We now have results from a local testing event. Chippewa County Department of Public Health, with assistance from the Wisconsin National Guard, provided free COVID-19 nasal swab testing on Monday, July 20, 2020 at the Northern Wisconsin State Fairgrounds. We now have results from that event. 434 tests were administered (76% of individuals tested reported having at least one symptom of illness, 24% reported having no symptoms). 7 individuals tested positive for COVID-19 (5 Chippewa County residents, 2 residents of

Wisconsin Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald says Republicans are ready to rescind the governor’s mask mandate.  Meanwhile state health officials confirmed 15 deaths from COVID-19 in the last 24 hours.  A total of 934 Wisconsinites have died from the coronavirus.  There were 832 additional cases confirmed in the last day. 

The price of regular gas in Wisconsin is 12-cents-a-gallon below the national average.  Triple-A says the average price statewide is $ 2.06 a gallon, the national average is slightly higher at 2.18 for a gallon of regular gas today.  Drivers are paying about 2.05 in Milwaukee and Madison, 2.10 in Eau Claire, and as low as 1.88 in Fond du Lac.

Local authorities are now responding to the mask order and urging residents to not occupy emergency responders with complaints. Since the Governor issued Emergency Order to mandate wearing face coverings/masks our 911 Emergency Communications Center is already receiving calls from residents concerned about this order and it is expected that this will only intensify when the order goes into effect. In Chippewa County, Sheriff Kowalczyk issued a press release urging all members of the community not call 911 or non-emergency

An Eau Claire woman is dead after she was hit by a runaway tractor at a beach in Iowa. The Cerro Gordo  County Sheriff’s Office said 21-year-old Mercedes Kohlhardt died Tuesday after the tractor that was owned by the state rolled down a hill onto the beach she was sitting at.  The Sheriff’s Office says the accident is still under investigation. 

More money is available for businesses impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Eau Claire and the West Central Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission applied for more CARES Act funding, and the Economic Development Administration gave them both over 500-thousand dollars. City leaders say they’re finalizing the details on the application process, and several Western Wisconsin counties are eligible.

Students who play in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference are making decisions about returning to school. The conference canceled sports for the fall 2020 season including football, softball, women’s volleyball and women’s soccer at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.

Today is the last day most of Wisconsin can go out without a mask. Governor Tony Evers yesterday ordered a statewide mask requirement to try to slow down the rising coronavirus numbers in the state. The mask requirement takes effect tomorrow, it applies to anyone who is five-years-old or older and applies to bars, restaurants, shops, offices, and other indoor spaces. It also applies to beer gardens and outdoor restaurants. People can face a 200 dollar fine for not wearing a mask.

The latest coronavirus count in Wisconsin shows more people in the hospital because of the virus. The state’s Department of Health Services yesterday reported that 341 people are being treated for the virus in the hospital. DHS says 104 people are in the ICU. DHS has not yet explained why the hospitalization numbers have jumped up-and-down this week. The state yesterday reported just over a thousand positive coronavirus tests, and over 16 thousand negative tests.