Here & Now

Here & Now for March 19, 2021

Announcer:

The following program is a PBS Wisconsin original production.

Frederica Freyberg:

As vaccine supply increases, the doors open wider for people searching for a shot. FEMA staging this clinic in Milwaukee and another announced for Eau Claire. Lambeau Field opened its community vaccine clinic and this week Milwaukee officials announced new eligibility guidelines based on where you live, ensuring that residents in traditionally under-served neighborhoods can get vaccinated starting next week. Meanwhile, gratitude for a shot and looking for better days ahead.

Woman:

A light at the end of the tunnel. Get back to normal.

Frederica Freyberg:

I’m Frederica Freyberg. Tonight on “Here & Now,” we go to Green Bay and check on the vaccination efforts underway in Brown County. How health care coverage is impacted by the COVID stimulus bill. And the Eau Claire County administrator shares plans about how stimulus money may be used in her county. It’s “Here & Now” for March 19.

Announcer:

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

Julie Willems Van Dijk:

Our state is a leader in vaccine administration. We have expanded eligibility many times, and those expansions have come sooner than we originally expected, thanks to increased supply from the federal government and the impressive work of our vaccinators across the state.

Frederica Freyberg:

The State Health Department reports that more than 23% of Wisconsin’s adult population has had at least one vaccine, with more supply on the way. The uptake increases as mass and community vaccination clinics across the state add to the pharmacy, hospital and employer sponsored sites, with eligibility opening up quickly. Lambeau Field turned into a vaccine clinic this week and will continue as a place to get shots, at least until the Packer players themselves need the space back. For more on this, we turn to Dr. Michael Landrum. He’s an infectious disease specialist at Bellin Health in Green Bay which partnered with the Packers and Brown County on the clinic. Thanks very much for being here.

Michael Landrum:

Thank you for having me.

Frederica Freyberg:

So in your mind how important is a community clinic like the one at Lambeau toward getting people in your community vaccinated?

Michael Landrum:

I think it’s incredibly important. We need places where people can go to get vaccinated that are widely available, easy to get to, can get large numbers of people through in a short period of time in an efficient manner as soon as possible. It’s a race between the vaccine and the virus right now, and so we need sites like Lambeau Field and other large community sites just to do this exact thing.

Frederica Freyberg:

So does being at Lambeau add a little luster to the operation and draw people in?

Michael Landrum:

I think maybe it does. I mean, it’s a little bit more comfortable maybe to go to Lambeau Field than some sterile office building or a repurposed box store. We’ve been doing some testing at an old Sears site here in town. But Lambeau Field is a little bit more comfortable, people are familiar with it. So maybe in that regard, maybe it does help.

Frederica Freyberg:

How many people do you expect to get their vaccinations there?

Michael Landrum:

Right now we’re expecting anywhere from 3,000 to 5,000 per week. We hope to double that or even go higher than that in the coming weeks as vaccine supply opens up.

Frederica Freyberg:

What is the situation with vaccine supply and its predictability right now?

Michael Landrum:

It’s been getting better. For the last few months, it really was not very certain. But it’s been getting better. The supply of Pfizer vaccine that we’ve been getting through the state has been increasing and has become more reliable. Moderna vaccine has been reliable, but has not been increasing as much. Of course now we have the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which is just starting to become available. I imagine within a few weeks that supply too will be going up and becoming more readily available.

Frederica Freyberg:

So if people were going to go to the Lambeau site for their vaccines, would they know ahead of time what kind they would be given or is it just kind of whatever you get that week?

Michael Landrum:

So predominantly right now it’s whatever we have available. We’re still not at a point where we can let someone choose the type of vaccine that they would get. Whatever we have is what we’re going to administer. Right now that’s predominantly the Pfizer vaccine.

Frederica Freyberg:

How encouraged are you by the number of people getting vaccines in Wisconsin so far as reported by the Department of Health late this week, something like 70% of people 65 and older have had vaccines.

Michael Landrum:

I’ve been really encouraged by that. We’ve seen overwhelming demand here locally in the Green Bay area, northeast Wisconsin as well. So that has been very, very encouraging. I really hope that the demand like that continues as we expand to these other groups that we’ll be starting to vaccinate beginning early next week.

Frederica Freyberg:

That’s a big group, some two million people. Do you expect a lot of people to rush the doors, as it were?

Michael Landrum:

If that — yes. That’s kind of what happened when we opened up to those who were 65 and older. We had a big rush at first calling and it crashed some of our online registration sites. So I imagine there will be similar demand like that initially as we roll out to the next phase.

Frederica Freyberg:

Some people think that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is inferior to the Pfizer or Moderna. What’s your guidance on that?

Michael Landrum:

I think that’s a really great question. I mean there is some — initially you look at the overall effectiveness rates and you see for Johnson & Johnson maybe 66% to 70% versus Pfizer or Moderna vaccine being 95%. At face value you think, well, I want the vaccine with the highest effectiveness. And I say to those people that are concerned, you have to consider that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine was done at a different time. So it’s not a head-to-head comparison. It was done later. We have more variants circulating now. Variants which may impact vaccine effectiveness so the numbers may have been impacted by that for sure. But the vaccine still is incredibly effective, very effective at preventing those serious illnesses that result in hospitalization and death, just as good as the Pfizer and Moderna. And that’s why you take the vaccine.

Frederica Freyberg:

What about people who are hesitant to take the vaccine? What can be done about that?

Michael Landrum:

Well, we’ve been doing a lot here to try to educate our patient population and the local community. There are lots of reasons why people cite for being hesitant about it. And I think you really combat that just with education as best as you can trying to get that message out there. It is challenging in some cases, for sure, and you really have to in some cases with patients come alongside them and rely on that relationship that you’ve had with them maybe that you’ve created over the years to try to encourage them and reassure them that it is safe and it’s something that’s really needed.

Frederica Freyberg:

All right. Dr. Michael Landrum, thanks very much.

Michael Landrum:

Thank you.

Frederica Freyberg:

As folks start talking about getting back to normal with the flood of COVID vaccine rushing into states, many people still look to getting back to even after job loss or reduction and with bills and debt piling up. One major worry for everyone, especially in the midst of a pandemic, is the cost and coverage of health care. There are some big changes that are part of the federal stimulus package which our next guest calls historic and significant. Bobby Peterson is executive director of ABC for Health, a nonprofit public interest law firm focused on health care access. Thanks a lot for being here again.

Bobby Peterson:

You’re welcome. Glad to help.

Frederica Freyberg:

So is what’s in the American Rescue Plan historic when it comes to health care and specifically the Affordable Care Act?

Bobby Peterson:

Absolutely. There were no changes made when the Affordable Care Act was passed ten years ago and there was a lot of call for adjustments and changes and helping to improve it, but nothing ever made it through. In fact, the opposite was occurring, where people were trying to repeal it.

Frederica Freyberg:

Right.

Bobby Peterson:

This is a giant step forward. It provides a lot of opportunities for additional coverage for people, support for people, premium payment support, tax subsidies. It’s a really big deal.

Frederica Freyberg:

So the open enrollment period for marketplace plan runs through May 15. What can people looking to sign up for coverage expect under the new provisions?

Bobby Peterson:

Well, I mean, if you have coverage, there’s opportunities to go in after April 1. The federally-facilitated marketplace is supposed to have the adjustments made. So you can identify some of the credits that may be available to you. You can switch insurance still if you find something that’s more affordable. For people that are below 150% of the federal poverty limit, cost sharings are going to go away at that point. And for a lot of those people that had a federal poverty limit above 400% where you kind of hit a cliff, where suddenly there was no advance premium tax credits available, some of those people will have opportunities for subsidized care. A lot of them will.

Frederica Freyberg:

What we’re saying is 150% of the federal poverty limit, I looked, it’s something like $19,000. And what you’re saying is that if that’s the kind of income you’re at, you could get, under these new provisions, a marketplace plan under the Affordable Care Act for zero premiums?

Bobby Peterson:

Correct. That’s for a family of one.

Frederica Freyberg:

Right.

Bobby Peterson:

It increases — the federal poverty level will change based upon your family size so the income will be significantly higher for a family of four for example. It’s an important change and it’s an important opportunity for people to get both subsidized health care coverage and to maintain continuity of coverage.

Frederica Freyberg:

Again, if you’re already enrolled in one of those plans, is it automatic that these kind of new monies accrue to your premiums or do you have to make some changes?

Bobby Peterson:

Well, I mean, we would advise you to go in and to make some of the adjustments after April 1. I mean, if you don’t do anything, you’ll be able to reconcile it on your taxes next year. But it’s a good idea if you want to take advantage of some of these opportunities early to go into the marketplace and make those changes if you need to.

Frederica Freyberg:

Okay. The federal stimulus money also incentivizes states to expand Medicaid. States like Wisconsin which has not done so. Our republican Assembly speaker saying he is opposed to that expansion. But what would be in it for Wisconsin to expand?

Bobby Peterson:

$1.6 billion. $1.6 billion. This is a significant chunk of change. When you think about the Medicaid program, resources coming into the state, what a great way to hit money across the state. Because every county in the state has people that are getting BadgerCare Plus Medicaid. Doctors, physicians, federally-qualified health centers. This will really provide a big shot in the arm for the patients that need it and for health care infrastructure in this state. It also frees up a lot of state GPR funds to rebuild our public health system, which we need to do. This pandemic has taught us that we were caught very flat-footed. And we need to make sure that we’re prepared and ready. Because this isn’t — you know, this is going to happen again at some point, unfortunately. And so I think using some of these resources to rebuild public health, to make sure that we’re in a better position than we were when the first pandemic hit.

Frederica Freyberg:

One reason Republican policymakers have been resistant to expanding Medicaid is that they worry that the program will be expanded and then the federal money won’t be renewed. We know some of these other enhancements last for two years. What about the concerns around that?

Bobby Peterson:

I mean, you know, I think that in a crisis situation like this you want to try and maximize federal money. I mean, Tommy Thompson used to say if federal money is available, you should take it. And I agree with that. It’s an opportunity here to address immediate needs. It’s an opportunity to make sure we get the care and coverage to the people who need it. And I think a very important — people talk about no coverage gaps, which is one of the arguments that is made. Coverage gaps are smaller in Wisconsin, but it’s like trying to work through a maze, trying to figure out the 30 plus features of Medicaid that you’re eligible for, all the different features of the Affordable Care Act. It’s hard for the average person to figure it out. We could simplify it. BadgerCare Plus separates parents from their children. The parents are directed to the marketplace. Kids are BadgerCare Plus. That’s an extra step that we don’t need.

Frederica Freyberg:

All right. We leave it there. There’s a lot more discussion around that issue for sure. Bobby Peterson, thanks very much.

Bobby Peterson:

Okay. Thanks, Fred.

Frederica Freyberg:

Talk about a shot in the arm. Federal relief funding will send some $5.7 billion to Wisconsin as the state continues to weather the economic fallout of the pandemic and the costs of public health response. This includes $3.2 billion for state government, $1.1 billion for counties and more than $780,000 to cities. What will this windfall mean to communities these governments serve? We check in with Eau Claire County Administrator Kathryn Schauf to find out and thanks very much for being here.

Kathryn Schauf:

Thank you for having me.

Frederica Freyberg:

First of all, what is your reaction to getting this money?

Kathryn Schauf:

It’s rather astounding. I think that all of our community partners are grateful and at the same time optimistic that we can put this money to use to not only fill gaps that we have from the COVID-19 pandemic, but also to stimulate our economic recovery in meaningful ways.

Frederica Freyberg:

So what is your county expecting to see in the way of these relief funds?

Kathryn Schauf:

So the county will have a direct allocation of around $20.3 million and then, when added to other community partner, local government partners, it’s $37 million. So it’s a significant investment into our local community. And that doesn’t even count the monies that are going to be earmarked for specific projects such as public health, social services, broadband for our libraries and public schools. So there are a number of different funding resources that are going to add up to a significant investment in our local economy.

Frederica Freyberg:

So how do you expect to spend it?

Kathryn Schauf:

Well, I think that is the challenge. Right now we’re still awaiting guidance from the treasury, because we have general parameters that have been put forward, and from those general parameters we’ll need more detail to know what’s included and what is not. However, I think one of the things that we’ve been fortunate to have in Eau Claire is a strong community partnership with all of our sectors. And early on in our pandemic response, the local government partners got together with the local chamber, visit Eau Claire, our business partners and we said we need an economic recovery system that can help put information out into our community as well as helping vaccine information go out and how do we get through this pandemic together. And so we’ve put together an economic recovery or COVID recovery task force and that’s still in existence today. And that forum is one forum that we’re going to use when we have conversations about how do we recover. Because we have so many of the players who benefit from this investment at the table. Because we’ll want to have a lot of citizen input. When we’re looking at the dollars from a county perspective, we’re also looking at it from the standpoint of if we spend money today, we to want be able to invest it in a way that we can save tomorrow. We to want look at things that help our region. So regional coordination is extremely important, as is social equity. And so along with the economic recovery task force, we’ll work with our county board and other elected leaders, but also our local governments. And we have a strong local government collaborative initiative that’s actually tied to that economic recovery task force.

Frederica Freyberg:

Because what has been the economic fallout in Eau Claire County due to the pandemic?

Kathryn Schauf:

Well, it’s been somewhat spotty. There are areas that have really suffered. Of course, leisure, hospitality, our restaurants. And other areas that actually haven’t seen the same economic impact, such as manufacturing. In fact, we’ve seen some really positive increases in the area of manufacturing in the Chippewa Valley, even during the pandemic. And county government, for those types of service where we rely on whether it be fees, fines and forfeitures, or like our jail, our juvenile detention center, those type of facilities that are 24/7 and rely on the cost sharing that’s all based on the capacity and number of persons in there, those are some of the areas where we’re seeing losses from the counties perspective that we’ll be able to backfill with some of these funds as well as shoring up our public health efforts to respond to the pandemic.

Frederica Freyberg:

I understand that these are kind of one-time monies. So it’s not like you can launch new programs or projects without funding those going forward. What’s the best —

Kathryn Schauf:

Correct.

Frederica Freyberg:

— way briefly, to make the most of these funds?

Kathryn Schauf:

To make the most of the funds to look at the current infrastructure that’s there, where that needs shoring up and also to look at projects that benefit the community as a whole. And the one that comes immediately to mind is broadband. It’s on everyone’s radar right now as being absolutely essential and I would say it’s one of the learning pieces we take away from COVID, is that the need for access to broadband is essential.

Frederica Freyberg:

Absolutely. All right. Kathryn Schauf, thanks for joining us.

Kathryn Schauf:

Thank you.

Frederica Freyberg:

We’ve talked a lot about the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan as it affects Wisconsin. Not a single Republican member of our Congressional delegation voted in favor of the funding so there’s a divide. And there’s a divide over the COVID-19 vaccine. According to recent polling, nearly half of Republican men say they will not get vaccinated. So the politics of the pandemic apparently persist. On these and other matters, we turn to our political panelists, Republican Bill McCoshen and Democrat Scot Ross. Thanks for being here once again.

Bill McCoshen, Scot Ross:

Hello.

Frederica Freyberg:

So polling shows that over 60% of people supported this $1.9 trillion relief package. Bill, that’s not hard for Republicans to ignore?

Bill McCoshen:

Well, I think the notion of unity that the president said in his inaugural address went out the window, right? Ten Republican senators went to the White House, pitched the president on a smaller package that they would actually support. All of the COVID relief packages during the Trump administration were bipartisan in nature. This one was totally partisan and there was actually bipartisan opposition to it. Two Democrats voted against it in the House.

Frederica Freyberg:

So I was just going to say that I was pretty sure Scot had something to say about this.

Scot Ross:

First of all, thank goodness for the American Rescue Plan. It’s $20 billion for the state of Wisconsin. 4 million adults and 1.5 million kids are going to benefit from that $1400 check. We’ve got $7.8 billion coming back to the people in that form. $5.7 billion coming to state government, local government, city government, county government. This is a plan that helps everybody across the board. It is unconscionable that the Republicans didn’t support this. They’re the ones who are going to have to ask guys like Bryan Steil, guys like Fitzgerald and Gallagher are going to say why you voted for hundreds of millions of dollars against your constituents?

Frederica Freyberg:

Bill, in the midst of the pandemic, do people feel like enhanced unemployment benefits and stimulus checks are just too rich?

Bill McCoshen:

No. They would have voted for it. They would have voted for that. They would have voted for additional PPE money and more money to get our schools back reopened. There’s no question about that. What they —

Scot Ross:

It’s in there.

Bill McCoshen:

Yeah, but so was —

Scot Ross:

There was a billion and a half dollars.

Bill McCoshen:

There was an additional trillion dollars that might not be needed. Remember, there’s still a trillion dollars from the last Trump CARES package that hasn’t been put out on the street. We now have almost $3 trillion that’s about to be flooding our streets.

Frederica Freyberg:

Lots of money going on. But Scot, another divide of which we spoke. Republican men don’t want to get the COVID-19 vaccine. What do you think that’s about?

Scot Ross:

Well, that’s about a consistent disinformation campaign on the part of Republicans. Let’s not forget the reason the pandemic has been so disastrous, 500,000 people dead, 7200 dead in Wisconsin, is because Republicans led by Donald Trump thought if they acted as though the pandemic were real, it would hurt him politically and so they all went in on this. It has been an absolute disaster. Thank goodness Governor Evers is leading us here in Wisconsin where we are number one in the country in vaccine distribution in terms of going out.

Frederica Freyberg:

Right.

Scot Ross:

Can’t be happier for that. Old people are getting vaccinated, young people are getting vaccinated. Now, we’re going to go a week earlier in terms of opening up for the next people to get vaccinated.

Frederica Freyberg:

That vaccination stuff in Wisconsin is great news. But, Bill, in your mind is there a better way to reopen America than to beat back this virus?

Bill McCoshen:

No. I can’t. I can’t wait to get my vaccine. As so as I’m eligible I’ll be first in line so I think more people will ultimately get it, more than 100 million out of 330 million people in the United States have already gotten it. We’re on a pretty good pace as Scot said. We’re doing pretty well here in the state of Wisconsin. I think it is the key to reopening and getting back to normal is more people getting the vaccine. What I don’t agree with is forcing people to get vaccines. If they choose not to for whatever reason, I think that should be their choice.

Frederica Freyberg:

Scot, our Republican U.S. Senator Ron Johnson in a fundraising email yesterday said that there is, “No doubt that Democrats have targeted me,” he said, “for extinction.” In fact, he said, “I am target number one.” Is that true?

Scot Ross:

Well, he is definitely the number one targeted incumbent senator, Republican senator in the country, that’s for sure. Now the question is, is he going to break the promise he made to the people of Wisconsin when in 2016 he said he wouldn’t run again and now go D.C. as they say, break your word and run again. If he runs again, he’s gone. The Democrats are going to take him out. He has just gone so far down the hole, we call him QAnon Ron at this point. He is the proponent of the big lie, of the racist big lie. He is traveling in every possible — supporting the insurrection, it’s ghastly. Wisconsin deserves better. They’re going to get better in 2022.

Frederica Freyberg:

So Bill, there is this. Senator Ron Johnson saying he wasn’t afraid during the January 6 Capitol insurrection, but he would have been had the crowds been Black Lives Matter protestors. How is that defensible?

Bill McCoshen:

I think some of it was taken out of context. What we do know is all of the riots over the summer, some of which were led by BLM or antifa were violent in nature, whether it was in St. Paul or Portland or Kenosha or Wauwatosa. And in some cases even here in Madison. So I think that’s what he was pointing to, that the riots we saw all summer were more violent in nature and those were on the left. Obviously what happened on January 6 was more on the right so I think he was trying to draw a comparison.

Frederica Freyberg:

Scot, final word?

Scot Ross:

I think it’s a case of the Republican Party has been taken over by racism. It’s unfortunate. We see it with passing Rush Limbaugh resolutions here in Wisconsin. We see it with every single Republican buying into the big lie that because Black people voted there’s election fraud and Joe Biden is not on the president. It’s really, really sad and I think people are going to really turn against this in 2022.

Frederica Freyberg:

I just want to allow Bill to make some comment on that.

Bill McCoshen:

I would say this. Republicans want free and fair elections. They want them to be transparent. You’re going to see that continue here in the state of Wisconsin and across this country, where you want more transparency on elections so people can be confident in the outcome.

Frederica Freyberg:

We need to leave it there. Sorry it got kind of heavy, but thank you very much, Bill McCoshen and Scot Ross.

Bill McCoshen, Scot Ross:

Thanks.

Frederica Freyberg:

That is our program for this week. Look for continued coverage on topics we spoke about tonight online at PBSwisconsin.org and then click on the news tab. 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.