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COVID-19 positive test rate, hospitalizations, continue to decline

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Coronavirus percentages continue to trend down in Wisconsin. There were just 1,300 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on Friday, with a little under 9,800 tests processed over the Thanksgiving holiday.

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services reported that Friday’s daily positive test rate was just 13.3 percent, and the seven day positive test rate fell to 27.8.

Seventeen COVID-19 related deaths bring the toll in Wisconsin to 3,257. Hospitalizations have dropped steadily from a high of 2,277 two weeks ago to 1,845 as of Friday, with 400 COVID-19 patients in ICUs.

Despite the reduced number of patients statewide, the situation remains critical in many Wisconsin hospitals.
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Milwaukee County recount completed

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The presidential recount is complete, in Milwaukee County. The recount concluded Friday evening, and according to the Milwaukee County Elections Commission which certified the results, no instances of fraud were found in the week long process.

President-Elect Joe Biden received 317,527 votes and President Donald Trump 134,482. The recount added 257 votes for Biden and 212 for Trump, netting a total of 45 votes for Biden. Dane County is expected to complete its recount this weekend.

The Trump campaign paid $3 million dollars for the recount in the state’s two most populous counties, both of which turned out bigly for Biden. The Democrat carried Dane County with 75 percent of the vote, and Milwaukee County with 65 percent. Menominee County, with a population of just 4200, gave Biden 82 percent of its votes.

Ho Chunk Nation flag flies outside Madison Municipal Building

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The flag of Wisconsin’s Ho-Chunk Nation now flies in front of the Madison Municipal Building.

Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway on Wednesday signed a flag proclamation “in honor of Ho-Chunk Day and in recognition of the fact that the City of Madison is located on the Nation’s ancestral land.”

In 2018, the Common Council declared the day after Thanksgiving to be Ho-Chunk Nation Day in the City of Madison. The flag was presented in an exchange ceremony in 2019 between the Mayor and Ho-Chunk nation president Marlon WhiteEagle.

COVID-19 hospitalizations continue to decline in Wisconsin

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There was not respite from coronavirus on Thanksgiving Day, although some numbers continue to trend downward.

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services reported another 62 COVID-19 related deaths, bringing the state’s coronavirus toll to 3,240.

DHS reported 5,095 confirmed positive cases on just over 13,700 tests, for a daily positive test rate of about 37 percent. The seven-day positive test rate rose only slightly to 28.5 percent.

The number of hospitalized patients continued to drop, to 1,839, with 423 in ICUs and 9 in the Alternate Care Facility at State Fair Park.

 

Last minute plea to stay home for Thanksgiving amid pandemic

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If you’re planning to celebrate Thanksgiving with extended family, Department of Health Services Secretary designee Andrea Palm wishes you wouldn’t

“Our situation in Wisconsin is only going to get better, if we all take steps together to change the course of this pandemic. Please stay home. Do not gather with folks that you don’t live with.”

Palm and Governor Tony Evers issued the last-minute plea to stay home on Tuesday, when for the the first time, Wisconsin reported more than 100 deaths from COVID-19 in a single day.

Hospitals remain stressed, although the number of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 as of Tuesday — 1,986 — marked the fourth straight day below 2,000 hospitalized patients reported.

On Wednesday, the state Department of Health Services reported 63 additional COVID-19 related deaths, and the the seven day average for deaths is an all time high at 55. The coronavirus related death toll in the state now stands at 3,178.

DHS reported 248 additional hospitalizations and 5,469 new confirmed cases on just over 17,000 tests, for a daily positive test rate of about 31.7 percent. The seven-day positive test rate fell to 28.3 percent.

While the falling positive tests and hospitalizations are encouraging, Palm was asking state residents not to back off on precautions. “Do not gather with folks that you don’t live with. Going to a friend or a relative’s house or hosting a dinner, even for Thanksgiving, are risks that we cannot afford to take as a state.”

Sarah Meaney leaving Wisconsin’s top Tourism job

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Secretary-designee Sarah Meaney

Department of Tourism Secretary-designee Sara Meaney is leaving the Evers Administration.

Governor Tony Evers appointed Meaney in December 2018, among the first appointments announced to the Democratic governor’s cabinet. Along with Department of Health Services Secretary Andrea Palm, Department of Transportation Secretary Craig Thompson and Safety and Professional Services Secretary Dawn Crim, Meaney has never received a confirmation vote from the Republican controlled state Senate.

Evers’ office announced Meaney will leave the post later this month to take a career opportunity outside of state government.

Evers described Meaney as “a relentless advocate for the tourism industry even before the pandemic, but especially as it has faced unprecedented challenges this past year.” Deputy Secretary Anne Sayers will serve as interim Tourism secretary.

Dane County Board of Canvassers upholds ‘Democracy in the Park’ ballots

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WRN photo

The Dane County Board of Canvassers has rejected a request from the Trump campaign to throw out more than 17,000 absentee ballots from Madison.

Those ballots were turned in to poll workers who fanned out to more than 200 city parks on two consecutive weekends this fall. The “Democracy in the Park” effort aimed to assist voters worried about a slowdown with the U.S. Postal Service, or who didn’t have a witness available who could sign their ballot envelope.

Trump attorney Jim Troupis argued such events are not legal and those votes should be invalidated, according to the Journal Sentinel. The board denied the request on a 2-1 vote. Trump’s campaign could still bring a lawsuit to try to get a court to overturn the board’s decision.

Republican state legislators had earlier questioned the legality of Democracy In The Park, but never filed a legal challenge.

 

 

Wisconsin not flattening the curve on new COVID-19 infections

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Despite some encouraging trends, Wisconsin is not flattening the coronavirus curve, and as Thanksgiving approaches, hospitals and public health agencies are urging people to stay home, in order to decrease the spread of COVID-19.

And for the first time, Wisconsin reported more than 100 deaths from COVID-19 in a single day on Tuesday.

The state Department of Health Services on Tuesday reported 6,202 new cases and 104 deaths*, bringing the death toll to 3,115.

The average number of new daily cases over the last seven days — 5,732 — is down from 6,500 last Wednesday. Cases may be plateauing, but with Thanksgiving coming, the expectation is that asymptomatic carriers will gather and further spread the coronavirus.

“We are far from out of the woods, and people need to to double down. People need to continue what they’re doing, and do it more,” Department of Health Services Secretary-designee Andrea Palm said. “Where we are in our seven day average . . . is still as high as New York City was this spring, when they were overwhelming their hospitals.”

The state’s chief medical officer, Dr. Ryan Westergaard, said positive cases are not climbing straight up, compared to where the state was a week ago.

“That being said, the level of transmission and the number of cases is critically high. So the easiest answer to the question ‘are we flattening the curve’ is ‘no.'” Westergaard explained, adding that there are still high rates of new infections from people who don’t know they’re infected.

“Most cases that are being transmitted are from people that haven’t yet been tested, haven’t yet been notified by contact tracer that they’ve been exposed, and that’s what makes it such a dangerous situation.”

On Monday, the number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients stood at 1,999, the first time since since November 8 that the number had dropped below 2,000.

*Daily reported death totals do not mean those deaths occurred in a single day, but are instead all deaths not previously reported.

 

Conservative group files last minute lawsuit to prevent certification of Wisconsin votes

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A conservative group has filed a lawsuit to prevent the state from certifying the election results.

The lawsuit, filed by the Wisconsin Voters Alliance, seeks to have the State Supreme Court prevent the Elections Commission from certifying the results of the election and instead have the state legislature assign electors instead.

Among the claims in the lawsuit is a complaint that election grants from a non profit that has Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg as a donor unduly influenced the results in several of Wisconsin’s largest cities. A federal judge already rejected the claims about the elections grants earlier this year when the same group tried to prevent the funding.

The group also alleges that there has been widespread abuse and fraud in how the state handles and issues absentee ballots.

The Court has ordered the Wisconsin Elections Commission to file briefs by Friday. The next business day would be Monday, November 30th, and the state’s votes need to be certified by December 1st.

Multiple lawsuits to prevent voting certification have already failed across the country. 

Milwaukee recount staff discover nearly 400 unopened absentee ballots, add them to vote totals

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Nearly 400 ballots are being added to the count in Milwaukee after elections officials found a stack of unopened, valid absentee ballots.

Milwaukee elections chief Claire Woodall-Vogg says human error led to valid votes being left out of the original count. 

“All these ballots that are now being added today were in our possession on November 3rd. They were received either via mail or via in-person absentee voting and I think it’s critical that the commission make this decision so that no voter is disenfranchised due to an election inspector error.”

Woodall-Vogg says the absentee ballots were accidentally looked over during the central count on Election night.

“So if there’s one positive to come out of the recount it’s that every vote is indeed being counted including these 386.”

Woodall-Vogg says the mistake was human error on the part of elections staff. The votes were certified by the county board of canvassers on a unanimous vote.