Here & Now

Here & Now for January 31, 2020

Announcer:

A PBS Wisconsin original production. The following program is part of our “Here & Now” 2020 election coverage.

Frederica Freyberg:

I’m Frederica Freyberg. Tonight on “Here & Now,” Wisconsin U.S. Senators on the impeachment trial. The status and plans for coronavirus in Wisconsin. Wisconsin’s chief medical officer is here. And an inside look at storm damage in southeast Wisconsin that has the governor calling for federal help. It’s “Here & Now” for January 31.

Announcer:

Funding for “Here & Now” is provided by the Focus Fund for Journalism and PBS Wisconsin.

Frederica Freyberg:

The vote in the U.S. Senate to reject additional witnesses in the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump moves the process to the next step, a vote on the verdict. That vote, whether to acquit or remove the president, is scheduled for next week following closing arguments. Following the 51-49 vote defeating the motion to call witnesses, Wisconsin U.S. Senators spoke to today’s action. Democratic Senator Tammy Baldwin shared this in a tweet earlier this evening. “Every Senate impeachment trial in our nation’s history has included witnesses. I voted for testimony from relevant witnesses with direct evidence about President Trump’s conduct. The American people want the truth and Senate Republicans voted to keep it a secret.” Republican Senator Ron Johnson said, “Contrary to the warnings of Speaker Pelosi, Senate Democrat Leader Schumer and Chairman Nadler, the House provided a totally partisan impeachment, rushed, violating due process and lacking any impeachable offense. Now House Democrats are demanding the Senate do their investigatory work for them. Caving to their demands would have set a dangerous precedent and dramatically altered the constitutional order, thereby weaponizing impeachment and encouraging more of them. That is why I voted no on the question of calling witnesses.”

Now to the rapidly-developing news on the novel coronavirus. The U.S. government today declared a public health emergency and has imposed quarantines for Americans returning from the province in China at epicenter of the outbreak. In Wisconsin, latest numbers are that of the nine people under investigation for coronavirus, two test results have come back negative and seven are still pending. In a moment, we will find out more about the status in Wisconsin. But first, we hear from expert panelists assembled at the UW Hospital in Madison this week who describe symptoms and treatment.

Kristen Bernard:

We see coughing, fevers, initial symptoms. Then it can develop into a severe lung disease, with difficulty breathing and then people often need to be hospitalized and go onto critical care at that point in time. The viruses are usually transmitted through coughing, at least SARS and MERS we know are via coughing. And because of that deep lung infection. So it’s really coughs that are transmitting the virus.

Nasia Safdar:

There is no specific treatment, as you know, for this novel coronavirus, but there is a lot of supportive care that is available and patients that have symptoms that might need that care, we want to make sure we have the capacity and the manpower to accommodate that.

Frederica Freyberg:

Dr. Ryan Westergaard is chief medical officer and state epidemiologist for communicable diseases for the Wisconsin Department of Health Services. He is coordinating the response to the novel coronavirus in Wisconsin. He joins us now and thanks very much for being here.

Ryan Westergaard:

I’m happy to be here.

Frederica Freyberg:

Well so along with the U.S., the World Health Organization has declared the virus a global public health emergency. What are the implications of that here in Wisconsin?

Ryan Westergaard:

Well, in the era of global travel, the implications are that cases, new cases of the novel coronavirus could arise anywhere where people have been in contact with either existing cases or people who have traveled to as you said to the epicenter in mainland China. So far in Wisconsin, we’ve had no cases. We’re remaining vigilant and we’re prepared to the eventuality that we might develop cases from a returning traveler. As you mentioned, there are some people under investigation. Right now we’re in the preparedness phase. We don’t have new cases or any cases but we’re doing everything we can to prepare for the eventuality that we may.

Frederica Freyberg:

As you said, there are nine people under investigation here for this. What puts them in that category that they are under investigation?

Ryan Westergaard:

There are criteria for people for whom we think it’s important to get testing. And the challenge right now is that there’s only one laboratory in the United States where the testing is being done and that’s at the CDC in Atlanta. So in order to have a systematic approach to getting people tested, there are criteria for who meets the conditions that make testing indicated. Right now it’s travel to China plus symptoms suggestive of coronavirus infection. We’ve had a total of nine. Two have been hopefully ruled out at this point.

Frederica Freyberg:

These test results are still pending and as you say, there’s just this one lab at the CDC that is currently doing those tests. Why is it taking so long? Is that why? Because they’re kind of overrun with specimens to test?

Ryan Westergaard:

Yes. We do have a large number of cases. It’s also a brand new test because it’s a brand new virus. So before the description and the genetic sequencing of the virus, there was no way to test for this particular virus. So there’s — I’m certain they’re working around the clock and they are preparing and they’re manufacturing test kits to disseminate to other laboratories around the country that can streamline the process. But that takes some time because it’s very important to make sure that the test works in a reliable fashion. So there’s in addition to manufacturing the test, they have to do the validation. We want to make sure when we give people information, that it’s reliable.

Frederica Freyberg:

It’s reported that six students at UW-Platteville who were recently in Wuhan, China are being monitored by the CDC and that another student in Wauwatosa is being isolated. What about other campuses across the state? What do you think about that?

Ryan Westergaard:

Well, we at the State Health Department don’t speak about individual cases or individual communities, particularly in this current situation where we don’t have active cases. So we don’t have a known threat to the public of person-to-person transmission. We speak in general terms in a way that makes sure everyone gets the message that people who are returning from endemic areas or have had contact know how to monitor themselves for symptoms. On our website, we are developing and currently linked to CDC guidance on what are the best practices for monitoring some if you’ve been to the affected area in terms of what symptoms to look for and we’re trying to have that be the standard message that we share with all partners.

Frederica Freyberg:

Should there be positive cases in Wisconsin or this develops in that kind of direction, do you expect that Wisconsin will then also comply with these quarantine requirements?

Ryan Westergaard:

Well, those efforts to contain an infectious disease once it’s been detected are really done on a case-by-case basis. Quarantine and isolation are tools that used to make sure that susceptible people don’t come in close contact with people that could transmit the virus. There isn’t a blanket policy or something that we know in advance of how this will go. What we try to do is use the best information we have and in a very collaborative process with local health departments, which in Wisconsin would have the authority to do things like quarantine orders and in collaboration with national advisors at the CDC to really make the right call when it comes to those kinds of things in a way that protects public health but also respects privacy and confidentiality at the same time.

Frederica Freyberg:

What should people know about how this virus is transmitted?

Ryan Westergaard:

That’s a really good question because although it’s a novel virus, one that we haven’t seen before, it’s in the large family of viruses called respiratory viruses, that we’re very familiar with. Right now we’re in the middle of respiratory virus season and the biggest threat to health in terms of respiratory viruses is influenza. By and large, the mechanisms of transmitting coronavirus and influenza virus and other things in that same family of viruses are similar. It’s respiratory droplets. The highest risk activity is really sneezing or coughing, so our respiratory droplets can come in contact with someone’s nose or mouth or eyes and hand-washing. Hand-washing is important because virus can live for a limited amount of time on a surfaces. And we touch a surface and touch your nose, your eyes. So really in that regard, this is not new territory. We know a lot of things already about how to prevent the spread of respiratory viruses that people should be doing all the time.

Frederica Freyberg:

You were saying in Germany, though, there’s things about this virus. It’s novel. It’s new, that kind of have people like yourself wondering what’s around the next corner.

Ryan Westergaard:

The thing that’s novel about it or unusual or unique about the situation is because it’s brand new, we’re at a position where we can actually do things to prevent from having an epidemic of sustained person-to-person transmission. That’s why we’re putting as much energy into the response and the containment as we can, because influenza and other viruses, they’re sort of already here. We can give general recommendations, but we know influenza is going to continue to circulate. By doing things right. By doing public health and the infection control things we’ve said, we really have the possibility of preventing a large outbreak.

Frederica Freyberg:

What did you say happened in Germany that was unusual?

Ryan Westergaard:

I wouldn’t say it was unusual, but just today there was a case reported in the New England Journal of Medicine that there were cases of individuals contracting the virus from a person who wasn’t obviously sick. They had a chart which showed this is a date at which a person developed symptoms. This was the date in which his people said you had contact with were in contact with him. It was the first strong evidence that someone could spread the virus before they had overt symptoms. We know that that’s also true for influenza and the common cold. It hadn’t been documented in a scientific publication before today. So it was a notable development in this current epidemic, but not something that we think is dramatically different from other respiratory viruses.

Frederica Freyberg:

You’ve said that anxiety management is key. What is that or what do you say to people who are overly anxious about this?

Ryan Westergaard:

I use the term anxiety management, because in some ways that energy, that discomfort with the fact that there’s a novel infection out there is not misplaced. It can be concerning that there’s new viruses we can come in contact with. I think we want that anxiety or that attention or concern to the new infection to be used productively, which is acknowledgment that, yes, there are things we can all do to prevent the spread of respiratory viruses which are hand hygiene and respiratory hygiene and staying home from work when you’re sick. So paying extra attention or having a new virus in the public consciousness could have some benefits in that regard because the message would be that there’s things we already know to how to do to prevent the spread of viruses and this is one virus among many – a new one – but a virus among many that we know how to prevent the spread of.

Frederica Freyberg:

We see people even here wearing masks. Is that something doctors recommend?

Ryan Westergaard:

That’s also a good question. Right now there’s no general recommendation that people in the general population should wear masks when they’re out in public. The role of masks in health care settings is very important because someone providing care to a person who is known to have an infection and is symptomatic, they’re at risk. Respiratory viruses like this one, the really standard recommendation is if you’re within three to six feet or within literally spitting distance of someone, that’s really the highest risk zone where a respiratory droplet could spread. So in health care settings, anytime people are in that proximity to each other, we wear masks. It’s also a good idea if someone is at home caring for a relative who has a respiratory infection, a mask can reduce the risk that respiratory droplets will be exposed to a person who is well. At this time there’s no recommendation that we do this when we’re out in the public. There’s not good science that it does any good.

Frederica Freyberg:

So overall what is your message to people in Wisconsin around this?

Ryan Westergaard:

My message is let’s take care of each other and that involves open communication, trusting health care providers and public health providers to keep information up-to-date and wash your hands and practice good respiratory hygiene. And I think we do these things that we already know how to do. The risk of a large epidemic of a new respiratory virus is not a high risk, and a collateral benefit might be that we can reduce things like flu and colds as well if we pay attention to these things.

Frederica Freyberg:

Right because people are saying the risk is low, particularly when you compare it in context with the risk of the seasonal influenza again.

Ryan Westergaard:

That’s true.

Frederica Freyberg:

All right. Dr. Westergaard, thanks very much.

Ryan Westergaard:

Happy to be here.

Frederica Freyberg:

Good luck.

In the midst of the impeachment trial in Washington, Vice President Mike Pence came to the Wisconsin State Capitol on Tuesday to celebrate National School Choice week in the state, where the school choice movement began. Marisa Wojcik has the story.

Mike Pence:

I’m here in Wisconsin because this is where it all began. 30 years ago, Governor Tommy Thompson made history when he created the first school choice program in America.

Marisa Wojcik:

Republican Vice President Mike Pence and U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos brought messages of support for school choice also known as the state voucher program to the Wisconsin statehouse Tuesday.

Betsy DeVos:

We have a president and a vice president who are champions for students, for parents, for education freedom.

Marisa Wojcik:

The event, considered to be the first ever in the capitol for a sitting vice president, was an official visit and promoted a new education plan from the Trump administration.

Mike Pence:

And as we speak, the president and I are now working with the Secretary of Education and many of the great champions here to create a new program to provide more than $5 billion in school choice programs across America.

Marisa Wojcik:

But Wisconsin Democrats are trying to undo school choice in Wisconsin. Starting with Governor Tony Evers’ failed attempt to phase out voucher programs in his first budget.

Mike Pence:

In fact, I learned on the way here that there’s a bill being introduced in the Wisconsin Legislature that would actually phase out school choice in this state.

Marisa Wojcik:

State Representative Jonathan Brostoff, a Milwaukee Democrat, announced his plan immediately following the speech from the vice president.

Jonathan Brostoff:

We want to line our classrooms with qualified teachers. They want to line their pockets with public dollars.

Marisa Wojcik:

There is a total of 317 voucher programs in the state, primarily for religious private schools. Last year these programs received $351 million in state funding. The Wisconsin budget project says that since 2012 the total cost of redirected state aid from public schools to voucher schools has risen 68%. Even so, the project says $351 million represents a relatively small share of overall state aid for public schools.

Mike Pence:

Allow me to bring greetings from another friend of mine.

Marisa Wojcik:

Even though Vice President Pence was visiting under official duties, it was clear that policy and politics were closely intertwined.

Mike Pence:

I’m here to tell you President Donald Trump stands for school choice.

Marisa Wojcik:

After a Donald Trump campaign rally in Milwaukee two weeks ago, it’s clear Wisconsin will maintain the battleground spotlight as politicians prepare to woo likely November voters. For “Here & Now,” I’m Marisa Wojcik.

Frederica Freyberg:

According to the Wisconsin Budget Project, despite recent increases, Wisconsin’s public K-12 school districts still receive less in state aid than they did a decade ago because of significant tax cuts and the diversion of funding going to private and independent charter schools.

Wisconsin is putting in for a FEMA damage assessment of Lake Michigan shoreline damage in the southeast part of the state. In tonight’s inside look, why Governor Evers wants an official tally of damage to public infrastructure in Milwaukee, Racine and Kenosha Counties. Those counties this week reported a combined estimate of $30 million in damage that occurred as a result of winter storms and lakeshore flooding earlier this month. The FEMA assessment is the first step to determine whether the state will request a federal disaster declaration. Tonight we check in with the Racine County Emergency Coordinator David Maack and thanks very much for being here.

David Maack:

Thank you for having me.

Frederica Freyberg:

Describe what the damage is in your county, in Racine County, because of those storms.

David Maack:

We saw a lot of damage along the shoreline. We had a 2.5 mile stretch basically from Carre-Hogle Park all the way up to the Wind Point Lighthouse that sustained damage to public infrastructure. What I want to point out is that most of this isn’t erosion or bluff-type issues, although we did have one slope over by the zoo beach where we have a bike path that a good portion of it fell away. A lot of it had to do with storm water outfalls, with rocks along the shoreline, clean-up of debris and things like that. But for us, we’re looking at probably over $6 million worth of damages that need to be repaired. And that’s just restoration, restoring things back to the way they were. That’s not including any improvements or mitigation efforts.

Frederica Freyberg:

Right. I want to ask you about that in a minute, but Lake Michigan water levels, I understand, are reported to be 37 inches higher than average water levels in January. How does that combine with these kinds of winter storms like the one earlier this month that caused that damage?

David Maack:

You know, I guess you could call this the perfect storm. There were 58-mile-per-hour winds that were recorded in the city of Racine. You had the high, very high, lake levels. You didn’t have the shoreline ice that usually holds back the waves this time of year. And so you just had a number of compounding issues. But those high winds, coupled with the high water levels, caused a lot of damage along the shoreline there.

Frederica Freyberg:

That must have been something to kind of behold if you were there along that shoreline when that storm came in.

David Maack:

We ended up closing down Pershing Drive, but there was some social media pictures out there that showed what the waves were doing that day, and they were very, very impressive to look at. I can’t imagine what it would have been like to see them up front and close.

Frederica Freyberg:

Now, we’ve done some reporting about how FEMA funds, even if they do come, require rebuilding infrastructure to current specs, not making them more resilient to rising water or sustained storm events. First of all, is that accurate? And, if so, what about that?

David Maack:

Well, we do have a hazard mitigation plan, and there are, after any disaster, there has been mitigation funds that become available that municipalities can apply for, so they can look at mitigation projects at that time. But when you’re looking at this type of assistance, the key is they’re not going to pay you more than what something’s worth. It’s an equity issue. And so they’re going to pay you to restore something, not to improve it. You know, they’re going to give you what it’s worth. It’s kind of like the same thing with insurance. You have a car and you’re in an accident, they’re not going to give you more than what the car is worth.

Frederica Freyberg:

But is it your sense that these kinds of public infrastructure installations need something more going forward because of climate change?

David Maack:

Well, I’m not an engineer, and I haven’t looked at specifically what the city has in place right now. That’s a question that really the city public works department and their engineers have to answer. You know, it’s going to take engineering studies to determine whether or not what they have along the shoreline is adequate for this or if it needs to be reinforced. And so I’m really not in a position where I could give you a definitive answer. You know, I’ll only say that I understand where FEMA wants to pay to restore something, and it’s been a while since I’ve overseen a declaration like this, so I’m not sure what the current rules are, but you would think it would make sense to pay the cost to restore, but allow a municipality if they want to spend the extra dollars to make the improvements. I’m not sure if that’s allowed or not and that’s questions that we’ll find out if we reach the next step.

Frederica Freyberg:

Now, given the high water levels of the lake and the erosion along the shoreline, we’re wondering about private property, because we know that this damage assessment is for public property. But we’ve all seen these images of these lakefront homes either kind of teetering at eroded edges or falling to the shore. Is that an issue in your county?

David Maack:

It is an issue in our county, and the municipalities and the counties have been working on that particular issue. The state’s been involved. The federal government’s been involved in it. It’s not the scope of this emergency declaration. This has been an ongoing issue. And so when it comes to public sector damage, private sector damage, the criteria that FEMA has has to be met and from this particular storm the criteria wasn’t there to ask for individual assistance for homeowners.

Frederica Freyberg:

If Racine County does not in fact get this FEMA assistance, can the county afford to fix this damage without federal aid?

David Maack:

Well, it’s the municipalities that were impacted on it. When we did the damage assessment, at this time the county itself has not incurred any expenses. It was the city of Racine and the village of Wind Point. And so there is a secondary program out there. It’s called the Wisconsin Disaster Fund. And if we don’t get the presidential disaster declaration, they may be eligible for reimbursement under the Wisconsin Disaster Fund. It’s not as robust as a presidential disaster declaration, won’t cover all the costs, but at least it would offer some relief.

Frederica Freyberg:

All right. Well, David Maack, thanks very much for joining us.

David Maack:

Thank you.

Frederica Freyberg:

This week, the U.S. Postal Service announced that the late journalist Gwen Ifill will be on a newly-released “Forever” stamp. Ifill is remembered for blazing trails as a print and broadcast journalist. Her “Forever” stamp is part of an ongoing Black Heritage stamp series. She is well known for her role as moderator of the PBS program “Washington Week.” Ifill joined PBS NewsHour as anchor in 1999. She passed away at 61 years old in 2016 after battling cancer. U.S. Postal officials said she was truly a national treasure and so richly deserving of the esteemed honor.

And that is our program for tonight. I’m Frederica Freyberg. Have a great weekend.

Announcer:

For more “Here & Now” 2020 election coverage, go to PBS Wisconsin and click on News. Funding for “Here & Now” is provided by the Focus Fund for Journalism and Friends of PBS Wisconsin.