Local Covid-19

Gov. Tony Evers promises to veto the first bill passed by the Legislature to address the coronavirus pandemic in 10 months, a Republican-backed measure that Democrats say would do nothing to combat the virus or help reopen the state.

 Evers announced his intention to veto the bill moments after the Senate voted along party lines Friday sending it to him.

 Update (2/4/21 2:45 p.m.): Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers has issued a new statewide mask order an hour after the Republican-controlled Legislature voted to repeal his previous mandate.

The Democrat Evers said in a video message Thursday that his priority is keeping people safe and that wearing a mask was the most basic way to do that.

Republicans who voted to repeal the order said Evers was exceeding his authority by issuing new public health emergencies rather than having the Legislature approve extensions.

The Oneida County Health Department says due to inclement weather forecasted for Thursday, February 4, 2020, COVID-19 testing with the Wisconsin National Guard at Grace Foursquare Church will be cancelled.

OCHD will be working to contact individuals who had previously scheduled appointments for COVID-19 testing.

The National Guard Testing site in Oneida County is usually open Tuesdays and Thursday. COVID-19 testing is also offered at local healthcare providers. 

The Wisconsin Assembly plans to vote Thursday on ending the state’s mask mandate issued by Gov. Tony Evers, a move that will send the question back to the state Senate, which could vote later this month to repeal the order.

The Assembly delayed a vote last week amid concerns that repealing the Democratic governor’s emergency order would result in Wisconsin losing about $50 million a month in federal money.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos says the Assembly will pass a fix for that problem and a resolution repealing the mask mandate. That will require the Senate to vote again.

Wisconsin is steadily increasing the number of people getting vaccinated every day.

As of Tuesday, more than 568,000 doses had been administered. Of those, 108,713 people have gotten both the required doses.

Department of Health Services Deputy Secretary Julie Willems Van Dijk said the system and demand for doses is where it needs to be.

But the state needs more doses to meet requests from vaccinators.

If you’re one of the many Wisconsinites on a waitlist for the COVID-19 vaccine, you might be wondering what will happen after you finally nab an appointment.

Of course, that will depend partly on where you go, but some elements of the process will probably be similar.

Bob Warning received his first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine on Friday.

He’s a courier for FedEx Express and he’s older than 65. Full disclosure, he’s also the father-in-law of Ben Meyer, one of WXPR’s reporters.

Wisconsinites will be able to sign up online to get their coronavirus vaccinations later this month.

The state is working with Microsoft to set up an online signup system.

The system will launch in 10 communities on Feb. 15.

The state’s plan is to use those communities as a test of the software before the system rolls out statewide.

Deputy Health Secretary Julie Willems Van Dijk says users will answer questions about their age and profession to see if they’re eligible.

Oneida County Health Department will start vaccinating people in the 65 and older age group. Until now, the health department had been focused on frontline healthcare workers and first responders.

To sign up for a vaccine with Oneida County Health Department, please go to oneidacountypublichealth.org or call 715-401-4150. As COVID-19 vaccines are received by OCHD, people who are eligible to receive the vaccine and have completed the sign-up form will be contacted with a date for them to receive their vaccine.

According to a new study 62% of Wisconsinites say COVID 19 was their excuse to skip a visit to the dentist.

Dr. Fred Prehn from Prehn Dental said he is already seeming damage from missed appointments.

"Care that I scheduled for last spring has now advanced I have had to extract teeth that I did not want to extract," Dr. Prehn said.

However, in the last couple of weeks appointment have been filling up again especially for senior citizens.

Wisconsin will become one of only 10 states without statewide mask mandates when the Assembly votes this week to overturn Gov. Tony Evers’ order.
 

More than two dozen public health organizations, as well as state and local health officials, have urged the Republican-controlled Legislature to reconsider.

The vote to repeal the mask order, planned for Thursday, comes as Wisconsin lags in distribution of the vaccine compared with other states.

With the Covoid-19 pandemic dominating national and state headlines, it was no surprise that the Lakeland Union High School District board of education had its own coronavirus issues headlining its Monday’s agenda.

Among them was a measure to ensure qualifying district employees unable to work due to coronavirus-related issues would collect a paycheck, either in full or at two-thirds of their regular pay scale depending on their employment status.

Educators, essential workers, non-frontline health care workers are among those next in line to receive the COVID-19 vaccine in Wisconsin.

Wisconsin DHS announced the next groups who will eligible for the vaccine Tuesday. The groups in priority order include education and child care, individuals enrolled in Medicaid long-term care programs, some public-facing essential workers, non-frontline health care essential personnel, and facility staff and residents in congregate living settings.