Here & Now

Here & Now for May 1, 2020

Announcer:

The following program is a PBS Wisconsin original production.

Frederica Freyberg:

I’m Frederica Freyberg. Tonight on “Here & Now,” new rules as more businesses and state parks are allowed to reopen. We will talk one-on-one with Governor Tony Evers. Plus, unemployment benefits. Secretary of Workforce Development Caleb Frostman joins us. And a closer look at frontline medical staff providing critical care to Wisconsin COVID-19 patients. That’s “Here & Now” for May 1st.

Announcer:

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

Frederica Freyberg:

Most Wisconsin state parks reopened on Friday, despite the COVID-19 pandemic. Parks and recreational areas like Devil’s Lake had been deemed off limits to protect public health after overcrowding, vandalism and littering. Under new guidelines, you must have an annual park sticker in advance. Playgrounds, bathrooms and other buildings remain closed. Parfrey’s Glen, Gibraltar Rock, Pewit’s Nest and Dells of the Wisconsin River are not reopening. All state parks will be closed on Wednesdays for maintenance. Governor Evers this week is also allowing some nonessential businesses to reopen: small engine repair shops, dog groomers, automated or self-serve car washes and businesses with outdoor recreational rentals, such as boats, golf carts and kayaks are able to operate. Any store can now offer curbside pickup, however those businesses must provide online or phone payments and proper disinfecting. Golf courses, arts and crafts stores, along with libraries, are offering curbside service. They were able to reopen last week. All businesses must follow social distancing and safety practices required under the “safer at home” order. The reopenings come the same week Wisconsin saw its largest one-day increase in coronavirus cases. Earlier I talked with Governor Evers in our weekly one-on-one interview and, governor, thank you so much for joining us again.

Tony Evers:

Thank you Frederica. Appreciate it.

Frederica Freyberg:

So it’s actually now the second day in a row that we’ve seen the largest day-over-day increases in positive cases. It stands at 460 more cases reported today, for a total now of 7,314, with 327 people who have died. How do these numbers bode for that 14-day downward trajectory required to reopen the state?

Tony Evers:

Well, we have to remember that 14-day downward trend is the number of positive cases divided by — as a percentage of the total number of tests. So we are testing a lot more. Now, there’s no question that — so I think a couple days ago, the number, the percentage of positive tests were about 6% or 7%. Now they’re 11% or 12%. So that is an increase in that percentage. But that is, you know, I’m not a mathematician here on those numbers, but the bottom line is we were testing a lot of people in Brown County that worked in those meat-packing plants, and so the large number is a lot contributed to that. I won’t say all, but a lot. But we’re spending — we want to massively increase testing across the state, but at this point in time, because of that surge there, we are testing many people that have the virus.

Frederica Freyberg:

I think I’m reading these numbers correctly from the Department of Health Services’ daily kind of tracking of these numbers. It looks like we’re testing around 3,000 a day, and yet we have this capacity now of 11,000.

Tony Evers:

Right.

Frederica Freyberg:

Why aren’t we able to get up to that capacity that we have?

Tony Evers:

Well, several reasons. One is — and we’re encouraging health care providers to do this. My goal is anybody that needs a test should have a test. I know that sounds like Donald Trump, but that is what we have to do. We do have enough testing materials. It’s getting people tested. And we have enough lab capacity. So we, you know, I think we have — I’m trying to think, almost 3500 today. So we are ramping up. We’ve increased testing. We have plans all across the state. Northwest Wisconsin is going to have lots in the next couple days, but so is the rest of the state. I believe we can get to that 80,000 number in a hurry. We’ve been focusing on Green Bay and some of the other areas where there are surges and all those are disconcerting, and so, but it’s important for us to have testing all across the state. We will do that. That has to be our goal.

Frederica Freyberg:

In fact, you announced today that you’re kind of branching out and doing community testing. Is that part of your effort to reach this capacity, to do more testing?

Tony Evers:

Absolutely. For example, Pepin and I’m trying to think which other county in northwest Wisconsin, Pepin and Buffalo County are having tests on May 1. And, yes, it’s going to be community testing. If people feel that they want to be tested, they’ll get tested. And so we’re doing that all across the state. We’ve been kind of reactive. But we’ve also — I’m encouraging and I’ve said this more times than I want lot, health officials that are dealing with people, they should be ordering these tests. That is part of all of our jobs to make sure we get as many people tested as possible.

Frederica Freyberg:

Now, you opened up more businesses to things like curbside pickups and reopened most state parks this week. Was this in response to criticism, or is it just time?

Tony Evers:

Yeah. We look all the time. I mean, we are constantly vigilant on what we can do next. And it’s always weighing the risk and the transmission of a disease versus economics. And we’re always doing that. So we felt confident in the curbside work. Actually, the night from the day we asked it, I saw advertisements on TV for businesses advertising their curbside transactions. So we’ve — in that case, we narrowed it down to one consumer or two consumers and one person from a store doing their work at the curbside. That seems logical. We can control virus transmission that way. So we’re always looking for better ways to do it, and we’ll continue to do that. We obviously have a stay-at-home thing until the end of the month, but we’ll also be looking to the end of the month.

Frederica Freyberg:

How open are you to plans like those from the Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, which kind of assign risks to individual businesses and where they are and how many cases there are in those places? How open are you to that plan?

Tony Evers:

Well, they have some that are — parts of the plan that seem reasonable, but they also have, they did not include the public health side of things and that is we need to have, we need to drive down the number of viruses in the state. And the only way we can do that is testing, tracing and having the appropriate equipment. That’s what Donald Trump laid out for us, frankly, along with the CDC. So we’re still following that. But I don’t dismiss what they’re doing. I’m just saying that there has to be a public health connection there.

Frederica Freyberg:

Are you now working with Republican legislative leaders, the very same ones who took you to the Supreme Court to sue the administration over on the extension of the “stay at home” orders? But are you working with them to kind of work something out here?

Tony Evers:

Well, I would say we’re not in that position. Clearly, we had a plan, and their response to it was taking me to court, the Supreme Court. So now that’s playing out in, you know, who knows how that’s going to work out. But I’d say if we rely on the facts and the law and precedent, we should win. But at the end of the day, if they have a plan, let’s talk about it. And we keep them informed. My staff meet with his staff regularly. We’ve encouraged their staff to be part of our — to watch our — be part of the center of — at Truax Field that we have with our emergency management. So there’s not that there’s not communication going on. They have a plan, I’ll be glad to take a look at it.

Frederica Freyberg:

All right. Governor Tony Evers, thank you very much for joining us.

Tony Evers:

Thanks, Frederica. Have a good day. Stay well.

Frederica Freyberg:

Meanwhile, the state Supreme Court is now reviewing a lawsuit brought by legislative Republicans over extending the “safer at home” order. Senior Political Reporter Zac Schultz has been following the case and he joins us now. And, Zac, thanks very much for doing so.

Zac Schultz:

My pleasure, Fred.

Frederica Freyberg:

So the basic premise of this lawsuit is that what the Republican leaders call an unelected bureaucrat, namely, secretary-designee of Health Services, should not have the authority to extend this “safer at home” order until May 26. Why is that?

Zac Schultz:

Well, the question that the Legislature wants the Supreme Court to step in and solve is at what point during this health emergency does the Legislature have a say in how the state responds to it? So far, Governor Evers has been in complete control of the state’s response under his emergency order. That 60-day order will expire on May 11. And what’s happening right now is the DHS secretary is saying she can extend most of the parameters of that “safer at home” order under her authority. And the Legislature is saying we don’t think your powers are that broad.

Frederica Freyberg:

And also, Tony Evers calls this a “blatant power grab” on the part of Republicans. But don’t the leaders think the same thing of his extension decision?

Zac Schultz:

Yeah. I mean, you can look at this as round two of the lame duck lawsuits in the sense of the Legislature is saying we would like to have more of a say in how the government’s reacting. We want more control over the executive branch. And the executive branch saying, no, the state law says we get to decide how we respond here.

Frederica Freyberg:

One of the things I know that the Legislature, the legislative Republican leaders have been talking about is this idea that this is “one size fits all” approach on the part of Tony Evers and that it ought to — the “safer-at-home” or isolation orders ought to be looked at in a regional way.

Zac Schultz:

Yeah. That’s one of the arguments they put into their Supreme Court briefing. They want the Supreme Court to take in the economic factors and the damage statewide to the economy and to workers when considering whether the DHS secretary’s extension of this order under her authority is beyond what state law gives her in her powers. There’s kind of that broad overview about what this means and there’s a lot of legalese and the Republicans’ economic argument underneath it is what they’re using to help sway why the Supreme Court should weigh in.

Frederica Freyberg:

Should the Republican legislators prevail, what are they proposing to do?

Zac Schultz:

Well, the Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, as we’ve talked about on this program, has introduced their own plan. They actually had a hearing on it in the Assembly just this week. That’s likely what the Republicans would like to see, which is kind of a regional reopening with some factors and some tests. The problem is that it doesn’t include contact tracing. It doesn’t include enough testing statewide. And a lot of people are saying, “Well, yeah, you can open up Marathon County, but what’s to prevent people from driving the virus back and forth between there and Milwaukee every day?” The state as a whole and the region as a whole, Governor Evers is part of that regional partnership, should be the deciders.

Frederica Freyberg:

Just very briefly, is there any sense at all that this, all of this will encourage more communication between the leadership and the governor?

Zac Schultz:

Well, if the Supreme Court sides with the Legislature, then DHS will have to create emergency rules and work with the Legislature to do so because they’ll have the ability to deny those rules altogether. It won’t be pleasant conversations, I’m sure, but they will have to work together on rules if they will have rules after this.

Frederica Freyberg:

All right. Zac Schultz, thanks very much for joining us.

Zac Schultz:

My pleasure.

Frederica Freyberg:

As the debate on reopening Wisconsin takes the spotlight, doctors and nurses are still focused on saving lives. This week Trevor Keller checked in with workers on the front lines of the pandemic.

Trevor Keller:

For healthcare workers in UW Hospital’s COVID-19 unit, the long hours and stressful days add up.

Ann Sheehy:

I think we’re holding up as best we can. But it is more stressful because we don’t know. There’s a lot more unknowns in this disease process than there is in a usual day of work for us.

Trevor Keller:

These doctors and nurses are on the front lines of the pandemic, fighting a virus producing more questions than answers.

Brian Williams:

Why some patients get ill really quickly, whereas some sort of stay stable and recover. Trying to predict that has been really difficult.

Trevor Keller:

Christina Brahos is a first-year nurse. She didn’t expect her career to start like this.

Christina Brahos:

We had healthy young people come in who have never had any type of serious illness before and now they are intubated in the ICU.

Trevor Keller:

With no visitors allowed, the only face-to-face interaction patients have are with health care workers.

Christina Brahos:

One of the hardest things is seeing patients who are understandably very scared.

Trevor Keller:

She says it’s tough to provide support while limiting exposure to the virus.

Christina Brahos:

Yeah, I think on both ends, we’re definitely really struggling emotionally.

Trevor Keller:

They know they aren’t the only ones struggling, especially as the debate on reopening Wisconsin ramps up.

[crowd cheering]

Ann Sheehy:

We know that people in the community have also experienced a lot of loss in their income, their livelihood, their normal routines.

Crowd:

USA, USA, USA!

Trevor Keller:

But here on the front lines of the pandemic, doctors and nurses say social distancing is working and still necessary.

Christina Brahos:

We are in a pandemic and things are not supposed to be fun or normal. The best thing you can do for us right now is just to please stay home and please take this seriously.

Trevor Keller:

Reporting in Madison for “Here & Now,” I’m Trevor Keller.

Frederica Freyberg:

A new UW-Milwaukee report calls out the racial divide of COVID-19 in Milwaukee saying, “The data that we do have has revealed disturbing patterns showing that African-American residents were twice as likely as white residents to contract the disease.” Marisa Wojcik brings us the story behind the numbers.

Marisa Wojcik:

Some are saying COVID-19 isn’t racist, but it is opportunist, and a new report out of UW-Milwaukee brings context to that statement.

Joel Rast:

We had some data that was already showing that there were these racial disparities.

Marisa Wojcik:

The report’s author, Joel Rast, says the data shows the racial divide of the disease in Milwaukee, looking at numbers on a geographic level.

Joel Rast:

So these are areas that are very much segregated neighborhoods. And so by looking at the geography, you know, where the cases are clustering, we can see very quickly whether those cases are, you know, located in black areas of the city or the county or in mostly white areas.

Marisa Wojcik:

Many of these neighborhoods are on Milwaukee’s north side. State Representative David Bowen serves many of these neighborhoods.

David Bowen:

And understanding within a seven-day time frame the numbers of contractions went up probably threefold.

Marisa Wojcik:

The coronavirus takes advantage of situations that don’t allow for social distancing, like working service industry jobs and living in a household with multiple people.

David Bowen:

Folks are taking the risk and the chance of possibly contracting the virus and bring it back to their families.

Marisa Wojcik:

Another opportunity, access to good health care.

David Bowen:

Folks in my community that deal with these other preexisting conditions that they are having a much tougher time getting through this virus.

Adrienne Lathan:

The relationship I have with my doctor was extremely important and very helpful because he was right on top of things, getting me tested, getting me admitted to the hospital. So that was a big plus. And I see in our community, our black community, we don’t have a lot of that.

David Bowen:

Are there things that we can begin to think about differently now as a result of this illness to begin addressing some of these inequalities?

David Bowen:

This does not end the story about us. This is a continuation of just how much that we have been through.

Marisa Wojcik:

For “Here & Now,” I’m Marisa Wojcik.

David Bowen:

If we end up getting the support and the help, or we have to do it on our own, we will get it done.

Frederica Freyberg:

Last week 11 UW System schools including La Crosse, Oshkosh and Milwaukee announced furlough plans. This week, the University of Wisconsin-Madison ordered furloughs for nearly 16,000 employees in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Right now, all classes are online and all summer programs are cancelled. The campus has been nearly shuttered since mid-March, when the coronavirus outbreak first arrived and many students stayed home. To make up a budget shortfall, faculty and staff are required to take three to six unpaid furlough days during the next six months. Chancellor Rebecca Blank, the provost and other top administrators will take a 15% pay cut. The furloughs and pay cuts amount to approximately $30 million. UW-Madison says it has conservatively estimated losses from the COVID-19 pandemic to be $100 million and will make up the difference by reducing travel, budget cuts and a partial hiring freeze. The chancellor says further expense reductions could be considered as early as this fall. By way of disclaimer, PBS Wisconsin is part of the UW-Madison. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to layoffs and furloughs as businesses close or see a drop in sales. A record number of Wisconsin residents are applying for unemployment, causing delays in the request to hire more staff. Secretary Caleb Frostman heads the Department of Workforce Development and he joined us earlier. Secretary, thanks very much for talking with us about this.

Caleb Frostman:

You bet, Frederica. Thanks for having me.

Frederica Freyberg:

Now, one important thing unemployment claimants should know right now is that the extra $600 a week started this week. Describe how that works for people getting unemployment benefits.

Caleb Frostman:

Sure. For anyone receiving even $1 in unemployment insurance or pandemic unemployment assistance, they are eligible for what’s called federal pandemic unemployment compensation and that’s $600 a week that will show up the same way you get your UI payments, so no other steps are needed, but that is back datable to early April. Folks have already seen some of those back payments to their date of eligibility and it will continue going forward throughout the rest of this pandemic, through the end of July.

Frederica Freyberg:

Okay. So if a person is eligible for unemployment, say as of this week, but doesn’t end up getting it just yet, is that $600 as you were saying retroactive?

Caleb Frostman:

It is. So it’s retroactive to the passage of the CARES Act, which will backdate it to early April. So there are folks that have received multiple weeks in the first couple days of payments here, which has been a significant sum for those families that were waiting for those dollars.

Frederica Freyberg:

What do the numbers look like right now? How many people have filed due to job loss because of COVID-19?

Caleb Frostman:

Sure. So we’ve had over 400,000 people apply for unemployment, at least checking the box that it’s due to COVID-19, and a metric we look at closely. The weekly claims that were filed before COVID-19 were around 25,000. The week ending last Saturday was over 340,000, so it’s been a really rapid increase over the course of the last six weeks.

Frederica Freyberg:

Describe how this overwhelmed your agency.

Caleb Frostman:

Sure. Well, I think, you know, the big piece that most folks have probably seen in the public and if they have interacted with our system, our call center has been overwhelmed. We’ve made some significant telecom improvements. There are a lot of people in COVID-19 interacting with the unemployment insurance system for the first time in their lives. There are a lot of questions. We’ve worked very hard to make sure our website is user-friendly and we have really helpful FAQs and other assistance out there available for claimants. But that piece has been really a big backlog for us, has been just the volume of claims in any economy, a number of claims need to be adjudicated to determine eligibility and so we’re seeing volumes like 400,000 new claimants. Even if that percentage stays the same and is likely gone up because of the new folks interacting with the system, that’s a significant backlog for us as well, trying to determine eligibility for a number of claimants here in the state.

Frederica Freyberg:

What is the best way for people to apply? How can they hope to kind of speed up this process or cut through, you know, all of these other people who are out there trying to apply and your staff and people you’ve hired up trying to help them? What’s the best way for people to apply and get unemployment benefits?

Caleb Frostman:

Sure. That’s a great question. I’m really glad you’ve asked it. And something that we — anytime I get a chance to be on a teleconference or an interview on TV I want to make sure that I really emphasize the importance of applying online. So folks have access to a computer and internet or even a smartphone with a cell signal, folks can apply online. We’ve been able to process as many as 25,000 claims in one day. But 99% of those are done online. If folks have access to a computer and internet, that is the best way to get your claim processed quickly and accurately. If there are no questions, and if the claim is entered accurately, we can see approval and determinations within two to three days. So that’s the very best way that new claimants can get their claim in the hopper quickly.

Frederica Freyberg:

Do you expect the Department of Workforce Development to also have to take a 5% agency cut that the governor announced this week?

Caleb Frostman:

Yes. So we have been working on that since the decision was made earlier this week, and we will likely have to identify 5% to lapse before the end of the fiscal year on June 30 of 2020. So we’re working hard to identify areas where we can make that happen before the end of the year.

Frederica Freyberg:

Meanwhile, though, that comes at the same time that your system is crushed, you know, by these numbers of claimants. How are you going to do that?

Caleb Frostman:

Sure. Well, I think we’re trying to be as creative as possible. We have six different divisions within DWD. Obviously, unemployment insurance is getting the lion’s share of our efforts. But we’re hopeful that either by holding back on maybe some planned expenses or other areas where we can lapse funds versus make proactive cuts that we can creatively make that happen. But I think there’s an understanding of course across the administration that our agency is one of the very most affected. And so we’re trying to be as smart and strategic as possible on how we can make that metric work while still serving Wisconsin claimants.

Frederica Freyberg:

Secretary Frostman, thanks very much for joining us and good luck.

Caleb Frostman:

Thanks Frederica. Appreciate it.

Frederica Freyberg:

There is positive news to end the week. Approximately 150 members of the Wisconsin Army National Guard Red Arrow Brigade returned home from Afghanistan. Families awaited their arrivals in Eau Claire, Menomonie, Abbotsford, New Richmond, Rice Lake, Arcadia, Onalaska, River Falls and Madison. This week President Trump told advisers he wants all troops out of war-torn Afghanistan as the COVID-19 outbreak looms. More than 500 Wisconsin National Guard troops remain deployed overseas in Ukraine, Afghanistan, Kuwait and Africa. That is our program for this week. For continuing COVID-19 coverage, join us online at PBSwisconsin.org and click on the news tab. This week, see what impact the pandemic is having on religious services. Also for analysis and in-depth coverage of the coronavirus, visit our partner news site at WisContext.org. You can find out how technology is helping track where people have been during the pandemic. That story is at WisContext.org. And, finally, we want to give a special thank you to our student production assistant, Kynala Phillips, who is working her last day with “Here & Now.” She’s graduating from UW-Madison and taking a job with the Wall Street Journal Magazine this summer before heading to graduate school. Best of luck to Kynala and, again, thank you for your excellent work. Stay well, Wisconsin, and we will 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.