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The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released long-awaited guidance Monday on how to stay safe even after vaccination. The agency says fully vaccinated people can gather safely indoors without masks with other fully vaccinated people or “low-risk” unvaccinated people from the same household. But it recommends vaccinated people continue to wear masks when they go out in public. And the CDC still says that travel should be avoided until broader immunity is established. Meanwhile, Wisconsin news organizations look back on one year of the pandemic — people lost, careers and education disrupted, lives upended — and a few bright spots.
Top Stories
A year after COVID-19 transformed life in Wisconsin, pandemic toll widespread — Wisconsin State Journal
Fully vaccinated people can gather without masks, CDC says — Associated Press
6 lives disrupted: How COVID-19 changed Madison — Wisconsin State Journal
We yearn for normal, but our lives have been fundamentally changed by a year of loneliness and loss — Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
A tale of two pandemics: Improving finances for some, financial peril for others — WPR
Gerald L. Ignace Indian Health Center teams with Department of Health Services for special vaccination effort this week — Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Return of Unified students boosts morale, but teaching in-person & virtual students is a ‘huge stressor’ — Journal Times
Thousands of Minnesotans cross state lines for COVID-19 vaccine — Minneapolis Star Tribune
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Quotable
“The CDC is missing a major opportunity to tie vaccination status with reopening guidance. By coming out with such limited guidance, they are missing the window to influence state and national policy.”
Dr. Lena Wen, emergency physician and public health professor at George Washington University, in a statement to the AP criticizing the CDC guidance as too cautious
Data to note
The Department of Health Services on Wednesday reported that 61.7% of Wisconsinites ages 65 and older have gotten at least one dose — as have 18.4% of the state’s overall population. Racial disparities persist in distributing vaccines. The shares of Black, Hispanic and Native American residents to receive a dose remain below that of white residents.
Public health officials continue to urge Wisconsinites to wear masks and practice physical distancing until vaccinations are more widely distributed.
The state’s seven-day average positivity rate continues to drop. As of Monday, the rate was 2.2% — a rate not seen since the early days of the pandemic in 2020. DHS reported 178 new infections and no new deaths Monday.
WisContext offers this visualization.
Find a vaccine site near you
DHS has this interactive map of vaccine providers across Wisconsin. Vaccinations are generally by appointment only and it may take time to schedule appointments with providers due to limited supplies of vaccines.
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.
A rollercoaster of a year for pastor of Madison’s largest Black church — Wisconsin State Journal
Christine’s Kitchens offers food entrepreneurs a pandemic lifeline — Cap Times
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