Thursday, November 12, 2020

Ignore the "business" groups - shutdowns and subsidies may be needed in a COVID winter

In mid-November 2020, COVID-19 continues to rage at their worst levels yet, both in America and in Wisconsin. Now that the election is over, maybe we can actually get some kind of agreement that having 7,400 cases in a day and hundreds of deaths each week deserves more attention and formal government action. And it seems noteworthy that on Tuesday, several organizations said that they are stepping up their efforts to encourage Wisconsinites to do their part to stem the fast-expanding breakout of COVID in our state.
The statewide coalition effort to combat the spread of COVID-19 has doubled down on the urgency of its messaging as Wisconsin’s public health crisis threatens to overwhelm the state. Today, the “Stop the COVID Spread!” coalition released its fourth public education announcement on broadcast TV and digital platforms statewide, with a stern and serious new message in the coalition’s efforts urging Wisconsin residents to do their part to help reverse the public health crisis that is threatening to cause great harm to the state. The new ad comes as Wisconsin again hit new daily COVID-19 records, surpassing 7,000 new cases in a single day, and after a White House task force report again warned that Wisconsin’s ongoing health emergency will continue to lead to increasing hospitalizations and deaths unless more serious action is taken.

The latest ad features headlines from major publications around the state, documenting Wisconsin’s ever-growing public health crisis. “Positive cases are skyrocketing. Hospitals are filling up. Businesses are closing. Death counts are rising. Wisconsin – is losing,” says the narrator. “Our frontline workers are doing all they can, but they can’t do it alone. More people are getting sick and dying. Unless we make changes, there will be more deaths we could have prevented. You can change this.”

“COVID has a vice grip on Wisconsin that’s getting tighter every day and the consequences for our citizens, our businesses, and our health care systems are becoming worse,” said Eric Borgerding, President and CEO of the Wisconsin Hospital Association. “Last week, the White House Coronavirus Taskforce warned that Wisconsin will face more COVID deaths without a more robust state response to this virus. We need everyone to understand, accept, and act on these urgent warnings about Wisconsin that we continue to see from the White House Task Force and other experts. We need a unified message and response.”
Nice talk about having a unified message and response. Which makes it completely infuriating to go to the bottom of the press release and see who is chairing this “coalition”.
Wisconsin Hospital Association – Myranda Tanck, mt@platform-communications.com

Wisconsin Grocers Association – Brandon Scholz, brandon@wisconsingrocers.com

Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce – Nick Novak, nnovak@wmc.org

Wisconsin Restaurant Association – Tracy Kosbau, tkosbau@wirestaurant.org

Wisconsin Counties Association – Mark D. O’Connell, oconnell@wicounties.org
That includes a whole lot of right-wing organizations that have railed against any public health measure that might help to stop the spread of COVID (the Counties Association is somewhat of an exception), and any recourse that workers may have if an employer pushes them into a more dangerous situation.

These groups have spent a lot of money getting Republicans elected to the State Legislature that have constantly sued Governor Tony Evers whenever Evers has tried to require behaviors that would lower the chances that Wisconsinites might get COVID. WMC’s inclusion in that coalition is especially garbage, because guess who is demanding that St. Croix County not pass laws this week that might help them Stop the Spread?
Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce (WMC) – the combined state chamber of commerce, manufacturers’ association and safety council – sent a letter to the St. Croix County Interim Administrator and Board of Supervisors on Tuesday outlining the questionable legal authority it has to issue a “Chapter 41 COVID-19 Communicable Disease Ordinance” that would inflict significant economic harm on residents and businesses.

The proposed ordinance – which is set to be voted on by the St. Croix County Health and Human Services Board on Wednesday – would allow the public health officer to require most people to wear facemasks indoors and limit gatherings to 25 percent of occupancy limits. Individuals who fail to comply with such an order would face a $100 forfeiture per incident.

WMC’s letter explains that the ordinance is, “legally suspect and bad public policy that will simply create confusion, uncertainty, and fear, which will negatively impact local employers, workers, and customers.”
What’s “uncertain” about requiring everyone to wear facemasks and limit the number of people who can be in one indoor setting? That’s pretty cut and dried, don’t you think?

This song definitely comes to mind when discussing these clueless and selfish "business leaders."

By the way, it’s not like things are going great guns for business in our Wild West state as it is. Take a look at this chart, which shows how sales continue to be depressed in restaurants in America. Wisconsin’s year-over-year losses were between 34 and 40% for each of the three 3 weeks before Election Day, and you can bet that number gets worse now that our warm stretch is over and outdoor dining season is mostly over.

Newly elected State Rep. Francesca Hong (D-Madison) owns and operates a restaurant steps from the Capitol, and unlike the right-wingers, she thinks a shutdown would be the best thing for both public health and restaurants. Governor Evers has rolled out a version of the bailout Rep-Elect Hong references, in the form of over $100 million in aid to small businesses, live music venues, lodging establishments, and other sectors that are still in need of help in the COVID World. But that money comes from the federal CARES program, which ends with the end of 2020 – only 7 weeks away. And COVID doesn’t look like it’ll be anything close to gone when 2021 begins. Which means more federal help is going to be needed if we want to keep many of these service businesses alive while keeping people at home to Stop the Spread of COVID.

Right now, there is little happening with stimulus talks, which not only could give aid to these COVID-affected businesses, but also can help states pay for the large-scale testing and treatment that is going to have to continue in the early part of 2021 (at least). And now that the election is over and Donald Trump is going into a shell and deciding to settle scores on the way out the door, he and the rest of the White House are not as keen to make a deal to help Americans survive these dire circumstances.

But there is a government shutdown looming on December 11, and it sure seems to me that this deadline should be used in tandem with a new stimulus bill to allow people to survive what is fast-becoming a winter where many will either be sick or out of work. Or both. And if Nancy Pelosi wants Joe Biden not to walk into an economy and nation in even worse shape than we have today, she'd better use that leverage, instead of opting for a "stability" that isn't so stable today.

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