covid-19

Assembly Republicans are urging Democratic Gov. Tony Evers to divert more federal COVID-19 relief dollars to schools offering in-person instruction.

Rep. Mark Born is the co-chairman of the Legislature’s powerful budget committee.

He’s leading the group of GOP legislators.

Yesterday, he held a news conference urging Evers to spend more discretionary funding from the CARES Act to defray costs for in-person schools.

That funding could help cover substitute teachers, personal protective equipment and transportation.

After one year of the COVID pandemic ending public use of Northland Pines school facilities, limited use will be returned according to a report by administer Scott Foster to the school board last week.

“Right now we are allowing walking in the fieldhouse along with pickelball and tennis returning in a limited manner,” Foster said. “One issue that needs attention of the board is Headwaters for the Performing Arts presentations in the fieldhouse because they need to start booking events.”

Teachers and childcare workers can begin receiving the COVID-19 vaccine as soon as March 1.

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services announced the transition to the next phase of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout Thursday.

Other newly eligible Wisconsinites include those enrolled in Medicaid long-term care programs, public-facing essential workers, remaining health care workers and people who live in congregate living facilities, like prisons.

Of those groups, DHS Deputy Secretary Julie Willems Van Dijk said educators are of the highest priority.

Wisconsin will open four more community vaccination clinics across the state amid a a push to inoculate people for the coronavirus in underserved areas.

One clinic is already running in Janesville. Gov. Tony Evers announced Tuesday that new community clinics will be in La Crosse, Racine and Marathon counties, with a fourth split between Douglas and Barron counties in northwest Wisconsin.

They are all expected to open within the next two months.

For the second day in a row, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services is reporting no new COVID-19 deaths.

It comes as the U.S. nears half a million deaths due to the virus.

The last time Wisconsin went two or more days without a single reported death from the coronavirus was the three-day stretch of Sept. 6 through Sept. 8.

In total, 6,284 people from Wisconsin have died from the virus. 295 of those people are from the Northwoods.

The daily update on COVID-19 numbers posted by the Wisconsin Department of Health Services listed no deaths for the first time since late September.

Health officials on Sunday confirmed just over 400 new cases in the state.

That’s the lowest count since about 320 positive tests were registered in late June.

The new case average has also reached its lowest mark since the summer.

The COVID Tracking Project reports that the rolling average number of daily new cases over the last two weeks in Wisconsin has decreased by more than 40 percent.

Wisconsin health officials are launching a new online COVID-19 vaccine registry next month.

The registry will help people determine if they're eligible for a shot, let them know where they can get it and allow them to schedule an appointment.

A number of local health departments will start testing the registry in their communities starting next week with a full launch on March 1.

If a person's local health department is participating in the registry he or she will able to access it starting then. The registry will be open to other vaccinators by April 1.

The Wisconsin Legislature is scheduled to vote on approving a half-billion dollar tax cut for businesses that received loans to help them keep employees on the payroll during the pandemic, one of several measures related to the coronavirus that are slated for consideration.

The bill cutting business taxes by $540 million by the middle of 2023 was up for a vote Tuesday in both the Senate and Assembly.

If passed, it would then go to Democratic Gov. Tony Evers who was non-committal last week about whether he would sign or veto the measure.

A new legal challenge to Gov. Tony Evers’ latest mask mandate is before the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

The challenge was filed less than a week after the Legislature struck down a previous order and the Democratic governor quickly issued a new one.

Prominent Republican donor Jere Fabick asked the court late Tuesday to issue a temporary injunction to block the mask order that Evers issued on Feb. 4. Evers issued the order just after the GOP-controlled Legislature voted to repeal an earlier mask mandate.

A second case of a new, more contagious form of the COVID-19 virus has been detected in Wisconsin.

That’s less than a month after it was first seen.

The so-called U.K. variant was first detected in the state on Jan. 12 and was identified again on Sunday by lab partners of the state Department of Health Services.

Wisconsin chief medical officer Dr. Ryan Westergaard calls the development “concerning” and says there are likely “many more cases” of it in the state.

Fears of variants taking hold come as vaccinations are increasing across the country.