Who Provides Leadership on Pandemic?
Compare Trump to Evers or Maryland’s Republican Governor Larry Hogan.
Coronavirus has changed economic, health and social circumstances. Over 300,000 cases and thousands dead nationally, with Wisconsin cases doubling to over 2,000. The economy is in free fall. 13 percent unemployed nationally, a record near-300,000 jobless claims in Wisconsin and state dairy farmers dumping milk with no markets. However, the Trump administration denies any responsibility for its delayed and incompetent pandemic response.
At every step the White House bungled: ignoring early warnings from intelligence agencies, lessons learned from a 2019 pandemic simulation and a study by White House economic advisors that said a pandemic would cripple the economy. Doctors and scientists were not heeded. Donald Trump failed on accumulating vital medical supplies, using the Defense Production Act (DPA) to direct U.S. industry to make needed medical equipment and large-scale coronavirus testing rapidly. Wisconsin Democratic Senator Tammy Baldwin has repeatedly raised Trump’s refusal to use the DPA.
Wisconsin Democratic Governor Tony Evers has moved forward, while GOP legislators falter. For example, only the GOP-led legislature can postpone an election. Evers unsuccessfully beseeched GOP leaders to do so based on public health and safety. They have cavalierly rejected his proposals, while stoking the rural-urban divide. Wisconsin Republicans are out of step with Republicans across the country. 15 states, including 7 GOP-led, have postponed their primaries. Alaska and Wyoming, solid red, moved to voting entirely by mail. Are Wisconsin GOP leaders seeking partisan gains with expected low turnout?
Evers has led on other fronts. His “Safer at Home” policy is on the same page as 40 other states, including 16 GOP-led. But top Wisconsin GOP legislative leaders have dragged their feet, threatening investigations down the road. They are not listening to Maryland GOP Governor Larry Hogan and head of the National Governors Association. Hogan has strongly endorsed stay at home, and has not been timid in pointing out the bungling of the White House. It’s long past time for Wisconsin Republicans to grow up.
Evers is thinking outside the box, announcing “a new public-private partnership … to increase Wisconsin’s laboratory testing capacity for COVID-19” (coronavirus). It will make testing more widely available throughout Wisconsin. Marshfield Health System CEO Doctor Susan Turney said: “Our ability to now test for COVID-19, and turn results around within a day or less, is a monumental step in terms of … more precisely allocating our resources to patients … (and) understanding the scope of the pandemic on a local level.”
Finally, because circumstances have changed, Medicaid expansion is no longer just a choice. It’s a necessity because of mass unemployment and the enormous fiscal advantages for Wisconsin.
This column was originally published by Wispolitics.com
Bill Kaplan wrote a guest column from Washington, D.C. for the Wisconsin State Journal from 1995 – 2009.
More about the Coronavirus Pandemic
- MKE County: County Executive Crowley Has COVID-19 - Graham Kilmer - Jun 30th, 2022
- Statement From the Office of Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley - County Executive David Crowley - Jun 29th, 2022
- State Begins Vaccines For Youngest People - Erik Gunn - Jun 22nd, 2022
- DHS Recommends COVID-19 Vaccines for Everyone Age 6 Months and Older - Wisconsin Department of Health Services - Jun 21st, 2022
- Wisconsin Department of Health Services Secretary-designee Karen Timberlake’s Statement on CDC’s COVID-19 Pediatric Vaccine Recommendations and Expansion to Children Under Age 5 - Wisconsin Department of Health Services - Jun 18th, 2022
- MKE County: New COVID-19 Cases Down Slightly This Past Week - Graham Kilmer - Jun 17th, 2022
- City of Milwaukee Weekly COVID-19 Update - City of Milwaukee Health Department - Jun 17th, 2022
- MKE County: County Sees “Plateau” In New COVID-19 Cases - Graham Kilmer - Jun 10th, 2022
- City of Milwaukee Weekly COVID-19 Update - City of Milwaukee Health Department - Jun 10th, 2022
- High Court Okays Release of COVID-19 Workplace Data - Erik Gunn - Jun 8th, 2022
Read more about Coronavirus Pandemic here
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What Vos and Fitzgerald have not considered is that worse the spread is in urban areas, the more likely it is to spread to rural areas. When it does, the assault on rural health care that has been the result of the 8-year Republican war against the ACA will result in greater devastation. Vos and Fitzgerald may call themselves defenders of democracy. However their crass use of a deadly pandemic is the very antithesis of democracy.