Here & Now

Here & Now for March 12, 2021

Announcer:

The following program is a PBS Wisconsin original production.

Frederica Freyberg:

Driving in and rolling up sleeves. Vaccine surges into the state. It’s a shot in the arm for teachers shown here in Dane County and for the morale of residents around the state. According to the CDC, the influx of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine establishes Wisconsin as 15th in the nation for vaccinations given first in the Midwest. Meanwhile in Washington, relief of a different kind. A $1.9 trillion COVID stimulus bill is passed by Congress and signed into law by President Joe Biden.

I’m Frederica Freyberg. Tonight on “Here & Now,” reporter Will Kenneally explains what kind of stimulus Wisconsin can expect from the COVID relief bill. A warning on COVID-19 variants from Biden transition advisor Dr. Michael Osterholm. And the latest on the state vaccination effort with Interim Secretary of Health Services Karen Timberlake. And later, what the COVID stimulus bill means for Wisconsin families and children. It’s “Here & Now” for March 12.

Announcer:

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

Frederica Freyberg:

President Joe Biden signed his first major piece of legislation Thursday, a $1.9 trillion pandemic aid package that promises to send $1400 checks to some Americans as early as this month. “Here & Now” Reporter Will Kenneally breaks down what’s in the massive bill and what it means for Wisconsin.

Will Kenneally:

This is the third major federal package related to the COVID-19 pandemic. After the CARES Act was passed last March and a smaller supplement was passed in December.

Joe Biden:

Thank you all. Appreciate it. Today I signed into law the American Rescue Plan, an historic piece of legislation that delivers immediate relief to millions of people.

Will Kenneally:

The new bill contains some of the provisions from the previous bills, including a $300 federal supplement for state unemployment benefits. The supplement was extended in December, but was set to expire this weekend. The extra $300 supplement will now run through this September.

Joe Biden:

I’m using every power I have as President of the United States to put us on a war footing to get the job done.

Will Kenneally:

For Wisconsin, the new relief bill sends roughly $3.2 billion in direct funds to the Badger State. Last year, Governor Tony Evers used some of the CARES Act money to help procure personal protective equipment for frontline workers as well as set up a series of grants to help industries affected by the pandemic, like lodging and entertainment. On top of this Wisconsin counties and municipalities will get roughly $2.5 billion in direct aid. Milwaukee, for example, will receive more than $400 million and cities like Madison, Racine and Green Bay will receive tens of millions. For individual Wisconsinites, some will receive a $1400 stimulus check from the federal government. The full amount will go to adults making less than $75,000 per year or couples making less than $150,000. Wisconsin parents will also get some help receiving $3,000 per child, with an extra $600 for children under six. As schools begin to open up, the federal package includes $125 billion for public schools nationwide to help fund renovations to ventilation systems, reduce class sizes and buy PPE. Also in the bill, $8.5 billion to help rural hospitals and $10.4 billion to help the agricultural sector. The ag sector funds will put toward COVID-19 mitigation among food producers and for debt forgiveness for minority farmers, which the USDA estimated in 2017 make up roughly 1400 of Wisconsin’s more than 100,000 food producers. For “Here & Now,” I’m Will Kenneally.

Frederica Freyberg:

The American Rescue Plan was passed without Republican support in Congress. As for the Wisconsin delegation, Democratic U.S. Representative Ron Kind said in a statement, “COVID-19 has caused an economic and public health emergency like we’ve never seen before and we must meet this moment. This final package will provide relief to families, expand vaccines and testing, help our schools reopen safely and get our economy firing on all cylinders again.” On the other side of the aisle, Republican U.S. Representative Mike Gallagher said, “This bill was fundamentally flawed two weeks ago and even after being amended in the Senate is still fundamentally flawed today. We all want to ensure hospitals receive the funding they need to distribute vaccines. Schools can reopen and that individuals hardest hit by the virus can get by. But instead of working across the aisle, President Biden pushed for the wrong plan at the wrong time for the wrong reasons. So much for unity.” Governor Tony Evers expects to act quickly to distribute the more than 3 billion federal dollars coming to Wisconsin in COVID, saying he wants to get the money out the door as fast as possible.

Tony Evers:

To deal with the issues that are a direct result of the pandemic and that’s getting it out to small businesses, people in the child care industry, tourism industry, and obviously to make sure that our public health system is working appropriately. Our goal is to get it out the door and get it out the door, frankly, in the same way we have in the past. There’s many, many people in the state of Wisconsin that have needs and we have to make sure that we meet those needs. And so there will be no shortage of opportunities for us to help out the people of Wisconsin after that money comes in the door. Of course, we always have to wait for the regulations and I know that that will take a little bit of time. But once we get it, we’ll be in a position to serve the people of Wisconsin, especially those who have suffered the most in this pandemic.

Frederica Freyberg:

It has been one year since Governor Tony Evers declared the first public health emergency because of the COVID-19 pandemic. This week, he recognized the toll and tragedy of losing more than 6500 people in Wisconsin to the outbreak. And he thanked the work of so many on the frontlines. Evers says vaccines provide a light at the end of the tunnel. The vaccine is more widely available and spring is in the air. That leaves many ready to shed safety precautions and gather in groups, some without masks or distancing. Along with warm winds coming in, there is caution because COVID-19 variants are now circulating across the U.S. and in Wisconsin. Latest numbers show 33 cases of the U.K. variant in the state, just at the time when folks are getting tired of all the restrictions. We turn now to University of Minnesota Epidemiologist Dr. Michael Osterholm, a national expert on infectious disease who was tapped early by President Biden to help guide the COVID-19 response. Thanks very much for being here.

Michael Osterholm:

Thank you for having me.

Frederica Freyberg:

So you are the sounding the alarm on these COVID variants now circulating. Why? What are you seeing?

Michael Osterholm:

Well, we really live in a tale of two cities. The tale you just heard about from Governor Evers is surely real. We are very excited about the vaccines that are coming. We are at a relatively low point in terms of the number of cases. But the second tale of the second city is really about one of being in the eye of a hurricane, where we’ve gone through that front wall, which has been a dramatic and traumatic year. And everything looks kind of blue skies right now, gentle breezes. But the back wall is coming. And that is this variant, the mutated viruses we see. And in fact, one in particular, what we call B117, which was first found in the United Kingdom, is about 40% to 60% more infectious than the previous viruses we dealt with. It’s clearly causing much more severe disease. What we’re seeing the very rapid increase in this virus’ presence in the United States. And based on what we’ve seen in Europe, this is going to be a real challenge. England, for example, still is in lockdown relative to this virus since Christmas. They just opened schools for the first time this week, but most businesses, bars, restaurants, live venues are all shut down. This is happening throughout much of Europe. And so even though we have vaccine here, it’s coming even more every day, there’s still such a small number of people vaccinated or people who have had previous infection that anywhere from 55% to 60% of our populations in the states of the upper Midwest are still vulnerable to this virus. And over the course of the next weeks we’re going to see B117 taking off. Already here in Minnesota we’re seeing extensive outbreaks beginning to develop.

Frederica Freyberg:

Meanwhile the circulation of these newer strains comes at the same time that states are opening up again. What’s your prediction about those two things happening at the same time?

Michael Osterholm:

Well, unfortunately, it’s a perfect storm. We’re doing everything but turning over our credit cards to this virus. We’re giving it every opportunity to be transmitted. You know, we’ve got spring break coming up in Florida, which right now appears to be the state with the highest level of virus there in terms of the B117. We’re seeing all these other events taking place, opening up restaurants, bars, et cetera. And opening up schools. I’ve been a very strong proponent for opening up K-8 grades because we’ve had data more months showing a very low risk there. That’s all different with B117. In Europe they actually had to shut down schools in a number of countries for months just to try to control the transmission of this virus. So I know the public doesn’t want to hear this. It’s horrible. We’re all at the ends of our rope with regard to this pandemic. But this is, I think, the last big hurdle to get over, at least in terms of the short term, with the vaccine going to have been here in May, this surge with this virus lasting 12, 14 weeks. I don’t know. But it’s going to be here for a while and we’ve got to understand that.

Frederica Freyberg:

Well, one article written about your predictions calls you “Dr. Doom.” Are you being unnecessarily pessimistic?

Michael Osterholm:

Well, you know, I’ve been called that all my career. Let me just point out that if you look at my track record on this particular pandemic, I’ve called it all along. A year ago this past Tuesday, I was on the Joe Rogan podcast when there were very few cases in this country. And I actually said I could see in the next year well over 4800 deaths. I was called “Dr. Doom” at that point. You know what the number is right now in this country. We’re at 526,000 deaths. So I will just stick with my record and say that go take a look and then can you make your own decision. You know, it’s not always good to have to bring bad news, but it’s important to bring the truth to the people.

Frederica Freyberg:

As to vaccines, you’ve also reported that you are delaying your own second dose. Why are you doing that? And should we be doing that as a matter of public health policy?

Michael Osterholm:

Well, I believe we should be doing it as a matter of public health policy and I’m not alone. The countries of England, United Kingdom and Canada have both done that right now. Based on the data, we can show that with the two first vaccines licensed, the two-dose vaccines, that you get very good protection after the first dose. We still want people to get the second dose, but right now we’d like to delay that for some weeks, 8-10 weeks til after we get through this surge. As I speak, there are over 20 plus million residents of this country over age 65 who have not had any access to the vaccine. We know this is where the most severe disease occurs, 80% of the deaths are in people over the age of 65. Most of the hospitalizations, much of the serious illness. As we go into this surge, the more people who have one dose in their arm would mean that many fewer people are likely to get severe disease, hospitalization or die. So I’m hopeful that my dose I would have gotten earlier, which I will get eventually, may go into the arm of some grandpa or grandma and save them to be around with their grandkids over the course of the next months ahead.

Frederica Freyberg:

All right. Well, thank you very much for your information, Dr. Michael Osterholm.

Michael Osterholm:

Thank you.

Frederica Freyberg:

Racing against time to outpace the virus, Wisconsin is opening up who can get the vaccine starting at the end of this month and this week said that by May everyone will be able to be vaccinated. By March 29 people with underlying conditions will be eligible, with all adults over the age of 16 able to get the vaccine just a month later. Very promising news and for more, we check in with Interim Secretary of Department of Health Services Karen Timberlake. Thanks for being here.

Karen Timberlake:

You’re very welcome.

Frederica Freyberg:

Opening up the eligibility and making way for all adults to be vaccinated starting in May suggests that Wisconsin will see a major uptick in supply. What’s the federal government telling the state about supply coming in and when?

Karen Timberlake:

We have had a number of weeks of just really good news on the vaccine supply front. So if we think back to just maybe four or five weeks ago, we were getting about 70,000 first doses into the state every week. By next week, we’ll be at about 179,000 first doses. So it’s two and a half times increase from where we were. By early April we’re expecting that to be about 225,000 first doses. By May 250,000. So the news has been really nothing but good on the supply front.

Frederica Freyberg:

As to the eligibility for vaccine being expanded at the end of this month, it includes people who have underlying conditions like cancer or heart disease. How many additional people is that in the queue for the vaccine?

Karen Timberlake:

We estimated that will be about another two million Wisconsinites who will be in that eligibility group and that’s because between the research that scientists at the CDC and elsewhere lead and certainly the review by our own state medical advisers it’s really a fairly long list of underlying medical conditions that we want to make sure we reach out to people with those conditions, make sure they understand that they will be eligible as of the very end of March to get in line, as you say, and get that vaccine.

Frederica Freyberg:

One of those includes being simply overweight. Will people have to verify their conditions?

Karen Timberlake:

Our expectation of our vaccinators is that they will not require any particular verification. We do ask people to sign an attestation form that they are eligible to receive the vaccine. We also know for these underlying medical conditions, our health care partners, our hospitals, our clinics, our community clinics, our pharmacies, they’re well aware of their patient populations that have underlying medical conditions and we know they will do a great job of outreach.

Frederica Freyberg:

You’ve also just added a new category of people to the eligibility list and that is restaurant workers. When are they eligible?

Karen Timberlake:

They’re eligible starting right now. So in the current groups of people who are eligible, we added people who are working in our food supply, so grocery workers, people who are working all along the food supply chain. And restaurant workers really fit in that category.

Frederica Freyberg:

When do you expect the state to reach herd immunity?

Karen Timberlake:

That is a good question. What I think is really important for everyone to understand is that we have three excellent vaccines that are safe, they are increasingly available. It’s really important for every person who is eligible today to seek out an opportunity to get a vaccine. As people become eligible down the road, we need everybody stepping up to protect themselves and protect all of us.

Frederica Freyberg:

So what’s the best way for people to sign up to get the vaccine?

Karen Timberlake:

There are a number of places that people can go to access vaccines. The first place to start is always going to be with your doctor’s office. In addition, it’s really a good idea to check with local pharmacies, including Walgreens and the Metro Market/Pick ‘n Save pharmacies that are getting vaccine directly from the federal government. And in addition we have a toll-free number people can call to find out more information about where they can get the vaccine and we have a map on our website of all the sites across the state where the vaccine is available.

Frederica Freyberg:

And in fact there are more and more of these mass vaccination sites being stood up in Wisconsin as well.

Karen Timberlake:

That’s correct. We have some community sites that are now open in Rock County. One that we just announced that’s going to open in Racine County in just another week or so, a site that just opened in La Crosse and there will be more to come.

Frederica Freyberg:

What are your concerns about the variants that are circulating now in Wisconsin?

Karen Timberlake:

We’re watching that very closely. Right now we have about 33 known cases of the — what’s known as the U.K. variant, the most common one people hear about. We still have one case of the South African variant. We know these variants are more contagious. They are more transmissible. They spread quickly. That is why between getting everyone vaccinated and continuing to wear masks, watch your distance, wash your hands, all of those strategies together will help us win the race against this virus.

Frederica Freyberg:

Very briefly with less than a minute left, how do you expect the federal COVID relief money to help Wisconsin’s public health effort in all of this?

Karen Timberlake:

The American Rescue Plan is going to be a game changer. It will help us continue our response to the coronavirus through testing and personal protective equipment and vaccination. But it’s also going to help us invest in some of the recovery that we need for people who have struggled to pay rent, for families that have struggled to find child care. There are tremendous investments coming our way.

Frederica Freyberg:

We leave it there. Karen Timberlake, thanks very much.

Karen Timberlake:

You’re welcome.

Frederica Freyberg:

Now a deeper dive on the COVID relief bill. One of the most significant provisions comes in the form of bolstering the child tax credit which experts say could reduce child poverty in the United States by up to 50%. Marisa Wojcik has more on this.

Marisa Wojcik:

The historic $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill dubbed the American Rescue Plan just may rescue some families with a game-changing boost to the federal child tax credit. Families will get up to $3600 for every child under six and up to $3000 for children older. For households with one parent earning less than $75,000 or couples earning less than $150,000, targeting many middle and low-income families.

Tamarine Cornelius:

This is going to be a really broad-based benefit that helps most children in Wisconsin. So everybody is going to see a lift from this. It will be especially important to families with low incomes who are struggling to make ends meet.

Tim Smeeding:

We know that women in particular who have been hurt because of lack of child care, low-wage service jobs, which are particularly affect minorities.

Marisa Wojcik:

Women like Tineshia Campbell.

Tineshia Campbell:

My name is Tineshia Campbell. I have two beautiful kids, 12 and 10, boy and girl.

Marisa Wojcik:

Tineshia and her children live in public housing in Madison, and she works at a gas station. When the pandemic hit, things got tough.

Tineshia Campbell:

In the beginning it was real stressful because hours were cut so my pay was cut. But the bills, they don’t get cut. You know what I’m saying? The kids still have to eat. Yeah. So it was stressful in the beginning.

Tim Smeeding:

It’s hard to make ends meet. We see the lines at the food banks and we see the FoodShare was up 22%. So those particular families who were hurting before are most likely to be hurting now.

Marisa Wojcik:

Tineshia made it work with help from the food pantry across the street and a temporary increase to FoodShare benefits. But the way the new child tax credit is structured would make a big difference for families like Tineshia’s, ensuring they receives the full refund and don’t have different benefits count against one another.

Tim Smeeding:

If you earn an extra dollar right now and you’re living in public housing or receiving SNAP benefits, they’re going to reduce your SNAP benefits, they’re going to increase the rent you pay. So there will be two income reductions in addition to taxes. The child tax credit doesn’t work that way. There’s no claw back.

Marisa Wojcik:

And it won’t be a lump sum come tax season. Starting in July monthly payments will be distributed directly to families.

Tineshia Campbell:

Oh, it would be amazing. Bills would be on time. You wouldn’t have to figure out like am I going to pay for the kids to be able to go to school with the internet or should I worry about the food? Like so you — that would definitely help a lot.

Marisa Wojcik:

Experts say the expanded child tax credit along with other measures in the stimulus package could alleviate child poverty 40% to 50%. However, the funding is temporary.

Tamarine Cornelius:

Most of the other parts of the COVID relief bill are temporary. The child tax credit part is one year. And so we will have to ask ourselves when this is done if it had the tremendous impact that we’re anticipating.

Marisa Wojcik:

Having experienced homelessness, Tineshia hopes to be able to eventually save for her children’s future.

Tineshia Campbell:

I just think it’s amazing that you can give your kids that leg up and like especially now, you know, they can get the money when they’re 18, 21, 25. They can use it for college, they can use it for a business, they can use it for necessities and don’t have to ask people for help.

Marisa Wojcik:

For “Here & Now,” I’m Marisa Wojcik in Madison.

Frederica Freyberg:

In a week that saw the start of jury selection in the trial of a Minneapolis police officer charged in connection with the death of George Floyd, PBS Wisconsin debuted its digital series called “Why Race Matters.” Here’s Angela Fitzgerald with an excerpt from the first episode in the series.

Angela Fitzgerald:

After the death of George Floyd in 2020 and the increased media attention around racial justice, I felt a responsibility to use my connections in public broadcasting to highlight some of these issues in Wisconsin. Certain spaces in Wisconsin are often credited as some of the most livable cities. But for whom exactly? A 2019 report from the Center on Wisconsin Strategy showed that Wisconsin ranks near the bottom nationally on a number of racial disparities, including worst for unemployment. Second worst for out-of-school suspension. Third worst for voter participation. And fourth worst for infant mortality. During this season, we’ll talk with Black people living in Wisconsin and the issues important to them, like the school-to-prison pipeline and a white-centered education.

Man:

When you know you’re a human, you’re not going to accept slavery or oppression. And it’s similar to today. When we know what we’re truly worth, we’re not going to accept so just that education piece became critical but not a white-centered education.

Angela Fitzgerald:

Civic engagement and the fear behind change.

Woman:

To expect me to feel like I’m loved in this society, in this country is ridiculous. To try to fix a system that literally was started by stealing land and stealing people is a ridiculous idea to ever think that like this could be a just system.

Angela Fitzgerald:

Black mental health and the trauma surrounding the images of Black Death.

Woman:

We’ve heard countless Black men say I can’t breathe. I always explain with COVID and then with all of the racial unrest, we can’t breathe as a community.

Angela Fitzgerald:

Black farming and land ownership.

Man:

It’s so hard to convince people that what I was doing was the right thing because it was like they equated it with slavery. You know, the hard work, you know, was like, you know, you know, they didn’t realize there was a pay-out for that hard work.

Angela Fitzgerald:

The Black experience in Wisconsin needs to be talked about. Our stories need to be heard.

Frederica Freyberg:

“Why Race Matters” is a new PBS Wisconsin digital series hosted by Angela Fitzgerald. Watch the first episode and listen to the “Why Race Matters” podcast at PBSwisconsin.org/whyracematters. New episodes premiere online every Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. through May.

And that is our program for tonight. Thanks for watching “Here & Now.” We’ll see you next week. I’m Frederica Freyberg. Have a great weekend.

Announcer:

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