COVID-19 In Wisconsin: New Daily Case Record Pushes Wisconsin Past 300,000 Total Cases
CHICAGO (CBS) -- For the second day in a row, public health officials in Wisconsin reported a new high for daily COVID-19 cases, with 7,777 new infections, surpassing 300,000 total cases since the start of the pandemic.
Friday's total new cases surpassed Thursday's record of 7,497 new cases. Since the start of the pandemic, Wisconsin has now reported a total of 301,165 coronavirus cases.
The seven-day positivity rate by test also reached a new high of 18.8%, while the average positivity rate by person ballooned to a record 36.2%
The Wisconsin Department of Health Services also reported 58 new COVID-19 deaths on Friday, for a total of 2,573 so far.
As of Thursday night, 2,077 virus patients were being treated in Wisconsin hospitals, a slight decrease from the previous day's record of 2,107 hospitalizations.
Meantime, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers said during a news conference Thursday that he expects to introduce a package of pandemic relief legislation next week. He declined to reveal any details of the proposals, but did not sound optimistic that Republicans who control the Legislature would sign on.
"They're not in favor of mandating anything," Evers said. "That makes it more difficult."
Republican lawmakers have not met to address the pandemic since they passed a relief package in April. Since then, they and their conservative allies have worked to block every Evers initiative to curb the spread of the virus. They persuaded the state Supreme Court to strike down his stay-at-home order in May and convinced a state appeals court last month to block his restrictions on indoor gatherings. They're also challenging Evers' mask mandate before the state Supreme Court.
As a result, Evers has been reduced to begging people to stay home and avoid gatherings. He has hammered home that message during twice-weekly news conferences for months but not enough people are listening.
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said last month that the state's approach to the pandemic isn't working and has called for more testing. He said Tuesday that he left a message with Evers asking him to start negotiating on legislation.
Meanwhile Thursday, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that Republican megadonors Liz and Dick Uihlein have tested positive.
The newspaper reported that it had obtained an email that Liz Uihlein sent Wednesday to employees at Uline, the couple's shipping supply company, saying they had the virus but would return to the office on Nov. 19.
"Dick and I tested positive for COVID," she wrote. "After all these long months, I thought we'd never get it. ... If we had not been around people with COVID, we would not have been tested."
It's unclear how the couple contracted the disease. A Uline spokesman refused to confirm their positive test results to the Journal Sentinel, saying the company doesn't comment on employee health. A message The Associated Press left at Uline's corporate headquarters in Pleasant Prairie wasn't returned.
The Journal Sentinel, citing unnamed sources, reported that Liz Uihlein attended President Donald Trump's election night party at the White House. A clutch of top Trump aides and campaign officials tested positive after attending that event. The White House responded to an inquiry about whether the Uihleins contracted the disease at that event with a statement saying only that any positive case is "taken seriously" and "appropriate notifications and recommendations have been made." The statement did not mention the Uihleins.
They are among the most powerful political donors in the nation. They have given $65 million to Republican candidates and causes since the beginning of 2019, including just over $1 million to Wisconsin politicians and more than $60 million to groups and individuals supporting Trump and Republican congressional members.
Liz Uihlein was an outspoken critic of Evers' stay-at-home order, saying he needed to balance the disease against the long-term effects his order would have on Wisconsin's economy. She also has claimed the media "overhyped" the disease.
She said in her Wednesday email that Uline employees who have COVID symptoms must take a 10-day leave but if they don't show symptoms they must continue working. Health experts say asymptomatic carriers can still spread the disease.
(© Copyright 2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
