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Today we highlight the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s devastating look inside a COVID-19 ward at University Hospital in Madison — where oxygen-deprived patients lie paralyzed due to sedation — as the coronavirus runs rampant across Wisconsin and the country.
“In recent days, it may have seemed to many Americans that their world had shrunk to the single image of an electoral map. Yet since Election Day dawned, about 5,000 Americans have died from the new coronavirus and half a million have tested positive for it,” Mark Johnson reports. “There has been no letup when it comes to the gravest issue facing the nation. If anything, the intense focus on the election may have worsened the pandemic.”
The Wisconsin Department of Health services has reported 73 new deaths linked to COVID-19 since Friday, bringing the state’s pandemic death toll to 2,329.
Top Stories
Top Stories
While the rest of America focuses on election drama, life for those inside a Wisconsin COVID ward is ‘all-consuming’ — Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Pfizer’s early data shows vaccine is more than 90% effective — The New York Times
Hundreds of health workers across Wisconsin are sidelined by COVID-19 infections, exposure — Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
‘She was our treasure’: A pioneering Milwaukee woman with Down syndrome died alone from COVID-19, devastating her close-knit family — Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Inside UW Hospital’s growing COVID-19 unit, patient fates are uncertain — Wisconsin State Journal
Hospitals scramble for staff, ICU beds as Wisconsin passes a quarter million COVID-19 cases — Cap Times
Ascension E.R. seeing rise in people sick with COVID return after being sent home — The Journal Times
Sheboygan County remains a COVID-19 hotspot with new record for cases in a week, 32nd death — Sheboygan Press
What are we missing? And how are you coping? Help us provide critical information and accountability by filling out this form or emailing us at tips@wisconsinwatch.org.
Quotable
“It’s been alarming to see in some ways just denial of science, that people say COVID is a hoax or that it’s not real … I can assure you it’s very real. We’ve been taking care of these patients day in and day out for the last eight months and in particular the last couple of weeks.”
— Dr. Hilary Faust of UW Health, as quoted by Channel 3000
“The safest way to think about it is this: Act as if you have COVID-19. Don’t do anything you wouldn’t do if you knew you had COVID, because the reality is that you might have it and not know it, and you can spread it … You could be the reason that your family, your friends, your coworker — really anyone that you interact with — gets sick.”
— Siobhan Allen of the Sauk County Health Department, as quoted by the Baraboo News Republic
Data to note
WisContext offers these visualizations of Wisconsin’s startling trends in COVID-19 infections, deaths and hospitalizations.
Resilient Wisconsin
People helping others and showing resilience during this time of anxiety. Send suggestions by tagging us on social media — @wisconsinwatch — or emailing us: tips@wisconsinwatch.org.
Empty Stocking Club volunteers will deliver holiday toys to families in need amid COVID-19 pandemic — Wisconsin State Journal
Kohl’s CEO Gass describes how chain retooled for holiday shopping during global pandemic — Milwaukee Business Journal
The nonprofit Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism (wisconsinwatch.org) collaborates with Wisconsin Public Radio, PBS Wisconsin, other news media and the UW-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication. All works created, published, posted or disseminated by the Center do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of UW-Madison or any of its affiliates.
