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Canvass complete in all 72 counties, deadline for recount request 5:00 PM Wednesday

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The Wisconsin Elections Commission has received verified canvass statements from all 72 counties.

The results, which have been reviewed by WEC staff but are not scheduled to be certified by the WEC until December 1, show Democrats Joe Biden and Kamala Harris defeated President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence by 20,612 votes.

The Trump/Pence campaign now has until 5:00 p.m. Wednesday to request a recount according to the procedures required by state statutes.

“Our county clerks have carefully estimated their costs for recounting 3.2 million ballots, which is approximately $7.9 million,” Elections Administrator Meagan Wolfe said Monday. “These estimates are significantly higher than the actual costs of the 2016 recount, but they take into account factors not present four years ago, including the need for larger spaces to permit public observation and social distancing, security for those spaces, the higher number of absentee ballots, a compressed timeframe over a holiday, and renting high-speed ballot scanning equipment.”

Wisconsin sets new record of coronavirus hospitalizations Monday

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The number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients in Wisconsin reached a new high on Monday.

The Wisconsin Hospitals Association reported 2,274 coronavirus patients, including 456 in ICUs. That’s an increase of 178 over Sunday and 271 more than one week ago.

The state Department of Health Services reported 19 patients at the State Fair Park Alternate Care Facility.

DHS reported 4,389 new positive test results on just over 12,000 tests, a positive test rate of about 36 percent. Twelve additional deaths bring the statewide total to 2,649.

Wisconsin Supreme Court hears another challenge to Evers’ emergency orders

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Wisconsin’s  response to the global COVID-19 pandemic is back before the state Supreme Court.

The case was brought by Jeré Fabick, a policy adviser at the conservative Heartland Institute and a Republican donor who’s also president of a Caterpillar equipment dealer.

Fabick’s attorney, Matthew Fernholz, said Monday that Governor Tony Evers’ repeated executive orders are invalid, because his emergency powers have expired

“We are not taking issue with the governor’s decision to label COVID a public health emergency under the statute. We agree it meets the definition. The problem for the governor is it met the definition in March, it met it in July and it met it in September. And for him to issue those second and third emergency declarations, he needed approval from the legislature, and he didn’t receive it.”

Hannah Jurss, an assistant attorney general defending the Evers administration, argued that the governor’s authority over a health emergency allows him to issues multiple orders as conditions change. “The definition of public health emergency is not what defines when a governor issues a state of emergency order, but that’s what Fabick is arguing,” she said. “I think it’s important that the court consider the absurd results the would flow from Fabick’s ‘one and done’ interpretation.

If the conservative majority rules in Fabicks’ favor, Evers and Republican legislative leaders would have to cooperate on a coronavirus strategy, which hasn’t happened so far. The court’s liberal justices noted the legislature has failed to take any action on the pandemic for the past seven months.

The justices heard arguments virtually and are are expected to issue a decision soon.  In May, the Court struck down Evers’ “safer at home” order, ruling that the administration had overstepped its authority when it extended the order without consulting lawmakers.

Report finds Wisconsin ranks well for lung cancer screenings but more can be done

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The American Lung Association’s “State of Lung Cancer” report finds Wisconsin is one of the top states for lung cancer screenings, but more can be done.

Dona Wininsky with the American Lung Association of Wisconsin said the state ranks fifth in the nation for lung cancer screenings – but still only about 11 percent of those considered high risk.

“But what we tell those people is it’s always better to be diagnosed early, because the outcomes are so much better when lung cancer it caught in early stage,” Wininsky said.

Want to find out it if you’re at high risk? You can take a brief quiz at savedbythe scan.org.

“What that does is it helps you determine whether you are even in that higher risk category, and if it turns out yes that you are, definitely talk to your doctor,” Wininsky said.

Wisconsin’s survival rate of 23.5% ranks above average nationally for the number of people screened for lung cancer as well as for those receiving treatment. New in this year’s report is that Blacks in Wisconsin are most likely to receive no treatment, indicating a serious health disparity.

Weekend COVID-19 numbers: 11,000 new cases & 64 deaths

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Wisconsin reported more than 11,000 new cases of COVID-19 over the weekend.

The state Department of Health Services reported a 6,048 new cases Sunday, 5,146 on Saturday, when the seven day positive test rate was 36.5 percent. DHS reported 64 deaths over the weekend, including 12 on Sunday.

After falling for three straight says, the number of people currently hospitalized for coronavirus infection increased again to 2096, 445 are in the ICU, and 18 at the alternative care facility in at State Fair Park.

Weekend COVID-19 numbersAmid Wisconsin’s coronavirus spike, Milwaukee residents are lining up to be tested.

Even people with no symptoms want the peace-of-mind to know they are COVID-negative. Milwaukee offers three city-operated test sites – the Southside Health Center, the Northwest Health Center, and Miller Park. At Southside and Northside, the daily average has been about 800 tests.

Since last Monday, those two locations report averaging more than a thousand tests each day. There were long lines at Hayat Pharmacy Saturday and a testing site in South Milwaukee was sending people wanting to be tested to other locations just after noontime.

Another negative COVID-19 record as state surpasses 300,000 confirmed cases

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Wisconsin has officially surpassed 300,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19. And, the state Department of Health Services noted Friday that it took just a little over two weeks to go from 200,000 to more than 300,000 new confirmed cases of the virus.

The spread continues essentially unchecked at a time when many hospitals and long care term facilities and their staffs are approaching a crisis.

DHS reported a new single day record of 7,777 positive cases Friday, along with 274 newly hospitalized COVID patients and 58 deaths, bringing the statewide toll to 2,573.

UW System has Thanksgiving testing plan for students

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The University of Wisconsin System has a coronavirus testing plan in place for Thanksgiving.

Students heading home for Thanksgiving will be tested for COVID-19 before they leave, then twice before they return to campus.

Acting system president Tommy Thompson – who has also been featured in “smash COVID” messages on social media – included that requirement in a memo to chancellors this week.

The system’s 13 campuses are being urged to use the rapid tests provided by the federal government. More than 175,000 students are affected. Two antigen tests will be administered over a three-day period as the students return from the holiday.

Evers working on COVID-19 relief package

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Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers said Thursday that he’s working on a coronavirus relief package.

During a media conference call to discuss the COVID-19 in the state, Evers wouldn’t say what’s in the package. He would only say he hopes to find a proposal that Republican lawmakers in Madison can support.

“We are in the process of working on that right now, so I’m reluctant to talk about anything specific. But we hope to have that done in the very near future,” the Democratic governor said.

Evers and Republican legislative leaders haven’t spoken about the coronavirus or anything else for months, as Republicans have consistently stymied the governor’s public health orders through court challenges.

“It’s our goal to also share that with the leadership of both houses, so that we can accomplish some things. So the goal is a to get this done,” Evers said. “And we hope to have it ready to share with others probably early next week or the middle of next week.”

Nygren and Marklein to serve as co-chairs of budget committee

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There’s been a change in leadership, of the Wisconsin legislature’s budget committee.

Speaker Robin Vos announced on Thursday that Marinette Representative John Nygren will return as Assembly co-chair of the Joint Finance Committee.

Earlier in the week, new Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu announced that Senator Howard Marklein of Spring Green will replace Senator Alberta Darling of River Hills as Senate co-chair of the powerful committee. Marklien is a CPA with six years as a committee member. Darling has served as co-chair since 2011.

Governor Tony Evers is expected to submit his biennial budget proposal in February. The JFC, as the committee is known at the Capitol, will then make revisions before sending it to the full Legislature.

 

Thursday another record setting day for new COVID-19 cases

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It was another record setting day for new coronavirus cases in Wisconsin on Thursday.

The state Department of Health Services reported 7,497 new confirmed cases — the third consecutive day the state has confirmed more than 7,000 cases. The positive test rate was just over 33 percent. The seven-day positive test rate rose to 36.4 percent, also a new record.

The number hospitalized COVID-19 patients was 2,077 — that was 25 fewer than Wednesday. But the 14 patients at the State Fair Park alternate care facility was a record 14. DHS reported 58 deaths, for a total of 2,515.

Hospitals  are facing a crisis brought on by record numbers of COVID-19 patients. “What we have heard consistently from our hospitals is the biggest issue is staff. They have beds, they don’t have staff. And that is true in long term care, and that is true in hospitals,” Department of Health Services Deputy Secretary Julie Willems Van Dijk said Thursday.

Willems Van Dijk said hospital staff may be sick, or in quarantine, and DHS is exploring a number of ways to assist hospitals. But she says the best way to help is to prevent new coronavirus infections.