When Scott Fitzgerald's Juneau County said it had moved into a "crisis model" and could no longer carry out routine COVID contact testing, I thought it was time for a deeper look at what inert GOP Legislative leaders are not moved by on their own home turf.
Now I can't say for sure if Fitzgerald or Wisconsin GOP Assembly Speaker Robin Vos from Racine County read the grim pandemic tracking numbers about their counties and the State of Wisconsin which are available online for free in The New York Times.
The most recent Times' report for Wisconsin shows Juneau County with the highest COVID19 positive case rate among all 72 Wisconsin counties - no doubt explaining that "crisis model" designation - while Racine County ranks 19th, but ahead of other counties with large populations, including Milwaukee, Dane, Waukesha, Brown, and Kenosha.
But even if these state legislative leaders don't care to read the Times while remaining in their recess since April 15th as the pandemic took off and took hold ...and who never came forward with a COVID-control plan as pledged months ago...and who have fought Gov. Evers' virus prevention plans since they convinced the State Supreme Court in May to terminate an Evers 'Safer at Home' order extension...and much of this is covered here and here.
Plus I have been trying through this blog to put the pandemic's attack on Wisconsin and the GOP leaders' intentional and partisan inertia into a frame Wisconsinites can easily grasp:
But I am betting that these senior Legislative officials have read or are briefed about what local health officials and media in Racine and Juneau Counties are public disclosing.
So while Fitzgerald Vos may have missed Thursday's New York Times' spotlight on Wisconsin as the state where COVID is now spreading the "fastest," let's look at some some of the already available public information which has not spurred them into action though the alarms were raised in their own backyards:
* From the Racine Journal Times, June 4th, 2020:
Racine County’s fast-rising per capita rate of COVID-19 infections now stands at 940.6 per 100,000 residents, up from 919.7 on Wednesday, as the highest rate in the state according to Thursday data from the Wisconsin Department of Health.
* From the Racine Journal Times, on October 26, 2020: nearly five months later:
For the second week in a row, Racine County has set a record for its highest rate of positive coronavirus tests. A record in total new confirmed cases, with 752 tests coming back positive, was also set.
From Oct. 20-26, 21.35% tests completed in the county came back positive; the result of 752 tests out of 3,522 coming back positive.
* And in today's Racine Journal Times:
Wisconsin’s Department of Health Services has created a new “critically high” coronavirus activity level for counties that have at least one active COVID-19 case for every 100 residents.
Racine County is one of 65 counties that fit the designation, as of Wednesday evening, with 1,497.7 active cases per 100,000 residents.
From The Juneau County Star-News, November 4th, 2020:
Cases have increase [sic] over 260% in the county over the last two months.
* From the Juneau County Health Department COVID website information page:
OFFICIAL JUNEAU COUNTY emergency information source
during event response and disaster management.
As of Friday, November 6th, 2020 Juneau County moved to a crisis model for contact tracing. The Juneau County Health Department is no longer able to effectively follow up with everyone who has been exposed. With the new crisis model, the Public Health Nursing Team will continue to conduct disease investigations with individuals who test positive but asks that people who test positive for COVID-9 notify their close contacts who live outside of the household.
See full press release here:
The release says, in part:
“Our local health department has lead this response successfully despite limited resources and staffing,” stated John Wenum, Juneau County Board of Health Chair. “It is unfortunate our County has exceeded a critical threshold this week and we hope these crisis standards are just temporary. It is up to all of us.”
Bottom line: If GOP Legislative leaders still in recess aren't practicing overt political malign neglect when public health officials are using the terms like "crisis" and "highest rate" and "set a record" and "critically high" to describe an accelerating pandemic, then I don't know what to call it.
