WASHINGTON — It’s been a month since thousands of refugees evacuated from Afghanistan were brought to Fort McCoy in central Wisconsin.
Folks in the town of Sparta, population just shy of 10,000, said they are still largely in the dark about the future of their temporary neighbors inside Fort McCoy.
“All signs point to the fact that this will be a longer commitment than before, than [the army] expected,” said Cedric Schnitzler, Monroe County Chair.
Spectrum News first spoke to Monroe County Chairman Cedric Schnitzler last month after he received an initial briefing on the base about plans for the refugees who were brought there. Weeks later, he said there are still a lot of unknowns as well as new challenges officials at Fort McCoy tell him they’re handling.
“When you have a city come in such as the size of that, meaning 13,000 people dropped in, obviously the creates garbage,” said Schnitzler. “That was probably one of those things that maybe they were behind the 8 ball on and they're trying to deal with it and it's coming around.”
He added health-wise, the base also briefed him on its mission to vaccinate its new population.
“We've had to deal with the health department dealing with COVID, and measles broke out there a little,” said Schnitzler. “There was one or two cases, which required the quarantine of a couple hundred people.”
The medical team at Fort McCoy has since administered vaccinations to over 97 percent of Afghans who arrived at the base. In a statement to Spectrum News, the fort said refugees were given shots for COVID-19, measles, mumps, and the chickenpox.
“The mass vaccination campaign is a perfect example of how we are coming together in a whole-of-government approach to protect our guests and ultimately the U.S. population,” said Angie Salazar, the federal coordinator for the Department of Homeland Security in the statement.
Schnitzler said the county has been and will continue to help out when it can.
“Whether it's the law enforcement community, our emergency management, and our health directors,” he said. “So, anything that's requested, we are responding.”
He also believes that call to action extends far beyond just county officials. He said residents are looking to step up as well.
“We’re still getting a calls,” said Schnitzler. “I did receive calls over the weekend saying ‘Hey, how can we help?’ ‘Where do we need to give things?’ And I said, ‘You know, I think there's going to be, down the road, more needed.’”
The US army launched the website welcome.us to help coordinate people looking to help recent Afghan arrivals.