Kenosha County to Illinois residents: Stay in your own state for vaccines

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Kenosha County wants Illinoisians to stop traveling across the state line for vaccine appointments — jumping ahead of locals at a time when doses are scarce, Mary Spicuzza reports for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

“Our vaccination clinics are for Kenosha County residents 65+ and in the 1A category, or people in those categories who work in Kenosha County,” Kenosha Health Officer Jen Freiheit told the newspaper. “We are trying our best to discourage non-residents, and some might have slipped through, but we are working to crack down on that going forward.”

Kenosha County, about 65 miles north of Chicago, has given at least one vaccine dose to 11.6% of its residents, according to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services. That’s roughly the state average.

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Quotable

“I tell people they need to get their faith and their facts together and come and get this shot.’
— Julia Means, a nurse and member of the Milwaukee’s Board of Health, speaking to WPR about vaccine skepticism among Black residents

Data to note

Here’s a look at the DHS vaccine dashboard.

https://bi.wisconsin.gov/javascripts/api/viz_v1.js

DHS continues to log fewer daily infections, with a seven-day average daily cases now at 832 — the lowest since early September. Still, the agency reports a seven-day average of 19 new daily deaths. Wisconsin’s pandemic death toll now sits at 6,151.

Public health officials continue to urge Wisconsinites to wear masks and practice physical distancing until vaccinations are more widely distributed.

WisContext offers this visualization of Wisconsin COVID-19 infections and deaths.

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Calculate your exposure risk

In Wisconsin, even small gatherings can carry a big risk of exposure to the coronavirus, according to a nationwide tool that estimates the danger by the size of gathering and county in which it is held. Data scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Stanford University developed the tool, which you can find here.

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