Wisconsin virus cases soar, so does unemployment
The number of reported coronavirus cases topped the 1,000 mark Saturday, as the pandemic — and safer-at-home restrictions responding to it — permeated deeper into daily activities, including civic life.
Wisconsin authorities say more than half of Wisconsin’s 72 counties report confirmed cases as of Saturday, with a number of counties, including Iron, Juneau, Portage, Vilas and Waupaca, reporting their first this week. The largest concentrations by far continue to be in Milwaukee and Dane counties; as of Saturday evening, Milwaukee County accounted for slightly more than half the state total.
The Waupaca County Department of Health and Human Services reported that county’s first death from coronavirus on Saturday. No details about age, gender or possible underlying health conditions were released.
That brings the statewide death total to 17, including nine deaths in Milwaukee County, as of 7 p.m. Saturday.
More than 15,000 people have tested negative for the virus.
Perhaps the most concentrated gathering of people was in downtown Milwaukee, but it wasn’t in a building and
didn’t violate safe-distance guidelines. A line of cars stretched around City Hall most of Saturday as residents pulled up for curbside early voting.
Gov. Tony Evers has called for every registered voter in Wisconsin to get an absentee ballot, a task some top Republican leaders see as impossible to pull off in less than two weeks. Local municipalities have encouraged absentee voting in an attempt to curtail the spread of COVID-19.
Until the April 7 election, Milwaukeeans can cast drive-up votes outside City Hall from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
Wearing neon vests and gloves, poll workers at the Zeidler Municipal Building on Saturday reviewed photo identifications, handed ballots to voters in their cars, waited until the voting was complete, and witnessed the ballots getting secured and signed.
Some poll workers wore masks; an occasional voter did, too.
“They were doing everything they could to keep everything sanitized,” said Susan Rekowski, a Saturday drive-up voter. “They’re wearing gloves and masks and I appreciate that.”
Robert “Bo” Johnson chose drive-up voting as both safe and surer.
“Who knows what things are going to be like two weeks from now when we’re supposed to be going to the polling places,” Johnson said.
Neil Albrecht, executive director for the City of Milwaukee Election Commission, said the city is required to offer curbside voting under state law. Normally, people with disabilities take advantage of the service. This level of
Luz Quinonez-Hurd directs cars Saturday to line up as drive-up early voting in Milwaukee started. A steady stream of cars lined up around City Hall, with drivers then being handed ballots near the Zeidler Municipal Building, 841 N. Broadway. curbside voting is unprecedented.
Albrecht said the city has received an average of 5,000 requests for absentee ballots daily for the last few weeks. To date, the city has sent out more than 60,000 absentee ballots.
Despite that volume, Albrecht is worried that the city and other municipalities will not have the normal voter turnout it would expect under familiar circumstances.
“This is an election where we would normally see anywhere from 160,000 to 170,000 voters,” Albrecht said. He is concerned that “a lot of people are going to be caught off guard on election day by having to choose between their health and being able to cast a ballot in the election.”
In smaller communities, local leaders are scrambling to provide essential services and conduct the spring election under safer-at-home guidelines. For example, a shortage of poll workers has led the Village of Menomonee Falls to reduce seven polling places to one. All 23 wards will vote at Menomonee Falls High School.
State unemployment claims soar
Like the rate of coronavirus cases, the number of people filing to receive unemployment benefits in Wisconsin is climbing rapidly.
Another 18,386 applications were filed on Friday, bringing the week’s total to well over 100,000, according to the state Department of Workforce Development.
Friday was the fifth straight day that the number of people filing for unemployment benefits was at or above 18,000.
During the same period in 2019, there were 5,640 claims filed.
Since March 15, more than 177,000 unemployment claims have been filed in Wisconsin, the result of a broad shutdown of businesses designed to blunt the spread of COVID-19.
Wisconsin and its largest metro areas could receive at least $2 billion from the $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus package approved by Congress and signed by President Donald Trump on Friday, according to a new memo released by the state’s Legislative Fiscal Bureau.
Annysa Johnson, Cathy Kozlowicz, Rory Linnane, Patrick Marley, Joe Taschler and Ricardo Torres of the Journal Sentinel and Natalie Brophy of USAToday Network - Wisconsin contributed to this report.
Contact Jim Higgins at jim.higgins@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @jhiggy.