Mayor Dan Toland used part of his weekly COVID update to update citizens of River Falls on local waterway health and fall voting procedures. Before the side details could be addressed, however, it was necessary to keep people up to date on the novel coronavirus, in light of Labor Day.

“So hopefully everyone got out and enjoyed some of the nice weekend weather we had for the holiday,” Toland said, sending well wishes to residents. “But at the same time, I hope we all practice our safety measures and guidelines to help with the spread of COVID,” he said, reminding area residents that “only time will tell” if the current measures are working. Among the past week’s developments were “several cases” of COVID identified among students, which Toland said that county public health officials were working quickly to get addressed. “As they have during the pandemic, county employees have been vigilant with their contact tracing and their ability to contain any spread,” he said. “So with that, let’s get caught up on our county COVID numbers.”

As of September 7, there were 24 active cases of COVID19 in Pierce County, an increase of five from the week previous. As for cumulative confirmed cases, there were 310, or an increase of 17 over the past week. There were 273 recovered cases for an increase of four, with 5,307 total negative cases for an increase of 390. There was one additional death from COVID, bringing the toll to six countywide. “The activity level remains high in Pierce County,” Toland said.

Switching next to St. Croix County, Toland reported that as of September 7 there were 142 active cases of COVID-19, down 11 from the week before. In addition, there were 677 total cumulative confirmed cases for an increase of 31, with an increase of 35 in recovered cases for a total of 521 and 13,547 total negative cases, up 611 from the week previous. No additional deaths were reported in St. Croix County for the week, with the total death toll in St. Croix county remaining being seven and the activity level “high.” Statewide, the total number of active cases as of September 7 was 8,096, up 867 from the week before, while the death toll increased by 46 people to 1,168 and the cumulative confirmed cases by 6,157 to 81,760 total, with a corresponding increase in negative cases by 53,939 to 1,226,793. With fall descending on the area Toland took time during his COVID briefing to remind city residents about proper leaf raking procedures to keep city waterways healthy.

“And just a reminder that we shouldn’t be raking our leaves in the street,” he said, saying that the leaves end up in stormwater drains and lead to high phosphorous levels and algae blooms in area waterways. Toland directed city residents to instead use the city compost site. “Please don’t hesitate to use it,” he said. From there, it was into voting procedures for the fall election, now in the home stretch for campaigning and set to conclude Tuesday November 3 at 8:00 p.m.

“As always, our clerk office and all our staff there are working hard to make sure we have a worry free process when it comes to our election,” Toland said. City residents can vote absentee by mail, IN-person at City Hall from October 20-30, or In-person on Election Day, Tuesday November 3. Voters can register to vote and request an absentee ballot at myvote.wi.gov. The last day to request an absentee ballot is October 29.

For those City of River Falls residents who have already requested a ballot, these will be mailed by September 18, and absentee ballot voters can return the ballot by mail or in locked drop boxes at City Hall. The ballots must be received by the end of voting at 8 p.m. on Tuesday November 3.

“Remember to pay attention to the instructions on your ballot,” Toland said. “Which include providing the address and signature of your witness.” Those choosing to vote by absentee ballot should allow seven days to receive their ballot and another seven to be returned by mail—better early than late then!