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GOP-backed COVID-19 relief bills getting fast-tracked through new session of Legislature

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A proposed package of GOP backed COVID-19 bills got its first hearing at the state Capitol on Tuesday.

There’s a number of business friendly measures in the package, including restricting local health departments from closing businesses for long periods of time, and broad lawsuit immunity for businesses. Those immunity measures that got most of the attention on Tuesday. 

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos says that he wants to have businesses continue their COVID-19 prevention efforts, but also be free from lawsuits if someone catches the virus. 

“But the idea is to try and find a balance, with the assumption that businesses are going to do the right thing.”

Kristine Hillmer with the Wisconsin Restaurant Association says that her industry has been unfairly targeted by health restrictions. 

“Our industry has become a major fall guy for this pandemic, which also makes us a major target for frivolous lawsuits over exposure to COVID-19.”

The bill would also require school boards to vote every two weeks if they want to keep students in virtual classes. 

“So if they decided to do a hybrid plan, where as an example they were in person two days a week, and hybrid three days a week, that would not qualify to have the school board take a recurring vote. It’s only if they are all virtual,” says Vos. 

Other measures would give the GOP-controlled Joint Finance Committee control over any future federal COVID-19 funding, and prevent local health departments from closing businesses for long periods of time.

Evers urges patience with vaccination process

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As questions swirl around Wisconsin’s COVID-19 vaccination effort, Governor Tony Evers is urging state residents not to take their eye off the ball.

“All this interest in the vaccinations, I get it,” the governor said. “But at the end of the day if we let our guard down because of the expectation that we’re going to get a shot tomorrow and life is going to be good, we will be making a horrible, horrible mistake.”

During a Tuesday media conference call, Evers said he doesn’t expect to be vaccinated any time soon.

“I don’t expect to get vaccinated until this summer, and I’m of a pretty big group of people. It’s all going to take time, people have to be patient. But while they’re being patient, they also have to continue doing the the things that they’ve done, that continue to make sure that we aren’t continuing to infect each other, while we’re waiting for our shot.”

Wisconsin approaching 5,000 COVID-19 deaths

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Wisconsin is nearing 5,000 deaths due to COVID-19. The state Department of Health Services on Tuesday reported 95 COVID-19 related deaths, the most since December 22, bringing the toll to 4,979 lives lost since the start of the pandemic.

Of those tested for COVID-19 over the past seven day, 31.9 percent were positive, according to DHS. That rate has been increasing.

The Wisconsin Hospitals Association reported 1,102 hospitalized patients as of Tuesday, including 245 in ICUs.

GOP lawmakers call for Governor to reopen Capitol Building in Madison

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Legislative Republicans want the governor to open up the State Capitol again.

Both the Assembly and the State Senate passed resolutions on Monday that call for the reopening of the Capitol Building.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Senate Majority leader Devin LeMahieu say that the building should be open so that people can visit their lawmakers and so that lawmakers can do their jobs.

The building remains closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and it’s unclear if the Governor or the Department of Administration who have control over the building will comply with the resolution or challenge it in court..

Republican lawmakers lay out new COVID-19 relief plan on first day of legislative session

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The new session of the Wisconsin Legislature got started with some strong words from the leader of the Assembly.

Speaker Robin Vos says he’d like to expand the powers of the legislature into the coming session. 

“The executive and judicial branches have expanded their powers significantly beyond the founders expectations through the use of ideas such as executive orders or simply refusing to carry out the law as enacted by the legislature.”

Vos says restrictions in place due to COVID-19 have resulted in a loss of freedoms for Wisconsinites. 

“Who would have thought we left here last April that so many things we take for granted would now be in question? The ability for free movement, the ability to work, worship, educate your children, or simply visit a sick relative?”)

Republicans are also bringing their own package of COVID-19 relief bills to the floor, starting on Tuesday.

“While it was very disappointing that the Governor walked away from the negotiating table last month, I want to thank our colleagues in the State Senate who continued our negotiations so we have a final bill that has been agreed to in both Chambers.”

Governor Evers repeatedly tried to get the Legislature to come into session to discuss or debate a number of his own COVID-19 relief ideas through most of last year. The Republican-led legislature was not interested at the time.

Wisconsin had 4,859 COVID-19 deaths in 2020

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The number of COVID-19 related deaths in Wisconsin stands at 4,859 for the year just ended.

The state Department of Health Services reported on Thursday that COVID-19 was a factor in 41 more deaths.

DHS reported 3,810 newly confirmed cases on Thursday, marking the third straight day of rising daily infections.

The state has now seen 481,102 cases since the start of the pandemic. The survival rate for those infected remains at 99 percent.

The Wisconsin Hospitals Association reported 1,046 hospitalized coronavirus patients on Thursday, and 237 in ICUs. The number of hospitalized patients has declined steadily from a mid-November high of 2,277.

 

Wednesday COVID-19 numbers in Wisconsin

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The number of Wisconsin lives lost COVID-19 in Wisconsin now exceeds 4800. The state Department of Health Services reported 2,755 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, bringing the average for the past seven days to 1,957 daily cases with a seven day positive test rate of just over 25 percent.

There were 35 new deaths from COVID-19, bringing the toll to 4,818 lives lost.

The Wisconsin Hospitals Association reported 1,074 hospitalized coronavirus patients, with 244 in ICUs.

COVID-19 Monday: 2nd death of person under age 20, hospitalizations increase for third day, nursing home residents begin to receive vaccine

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A second person in Wisconsin under the age of 20 has died of COVID-19. That individual was from Sheboygan County, and was among nineteen deaths included in Monday’s update from the state Department of Health Services.

Isai Morocho, a student at Madison East High School who died November 25, was the first person younger than 20 to die of COVID-19 in Wisconsin, where a total of 4,711 people have died since the start of the pandemic.

The number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients in Wisconsin increased for a third straight day Monday.

The Wisconsin Hospitals Association reported 1,113 hospitalized COVID-19 patients. The number of hospitalized patients in the state had been decreasing steadily, from a high of 2,277 on November 17, to 1,070 as of Christmas Day.

The Hospitals Association reported 237 patients in ICUs Monday.

CVS Health and Walgreens pharmacies have launched an effort to vaccinate Wisconsin nursing home residents against COVID-19.

Pharmacists began vaccinating residents and staff with the Moderna vaccine on Monday. Some 60,000 people reside in Wisconsin nursing homes and the process of vaccinating all of them could take up to three months. The effort will also vaccinate any workers who come into contact with residents.

Chief Justice Patience Roggensack issues statement addressing recent threats

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Patience Roggensack, the Chief Justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, issued a statement on Friday in which she addressed threats made toward justices.

I am concerned about recent comments aimed at members of the Wisconsin Supreme Court. I acknowledge that all members of the public have the constitutional right to speak in criticism of public servants, which certainly includes all justices on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. However, no justice should be threatened or intimidated based on his or her religious beliefs. Wisconsin has a long history of protecting the right to freely worship, as well as the right to freely speak.

Also, threats of actual or proposed violence have no place in public discourse in a democratic society.

As we are about to begin a new year, let us all refocus on coming together where possible and treating those with whom we disagree with the respect that each of us would like to receive.

– Chief Justice Patience Drake Roggensack, Wisconsin Supreme Court

Roggensack’s statement comes in the wake of misogynistic, anti-Semitic comments directed towards Justices Jill Karofsky and Rebecca Dallet. The liberal justices were joined by liberal Justice Ann Walsh Bradley and conservative Justice Brian Hagedorn, in rejecting President Donald Trump’s last minute efforts to overturn Wisconsin Election results. Trump attacked Hagedorn on Twitter in response to that.

Cases and testing for COVID-19 in Wisconsin continue to decline

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The number of positive cases of COVID-19 in Wisconsin rose by 2,579 on Wednesday, as testing continues to decline. The seven day positivity rate of those tested was 26 percent and has also been declining over the past month.

The state Department of Health Services reports there have been 4,614 deaths in the state, with 69 new deaths reported Wednesday by DHS.

As of Wednesday afternoon, there were 1,243 COVID patients in Wisconsin hospitals, including 260 in ICUs, and two patients being treated at the Alternate Care Facility at Wisconsin State Fair Park.