The virus comes back in Wisconsin, and businesses want to get away from COVID-iocy

Just when I thought that maybe COVID was fading out in Wisconsin, we've seen things regress so far in November. We now are back to the highest 7-day average of new vases in the state in a month.

And in particular, it is the Northern part of the state that is getting the worse of it. The New York Times' COVID map uses darker shades to show a higher rate of cases, and the geographic disparity in Wisconsin is obvious.

That geographic disparity in COVID cases (and vaccinations) in Wisconsin also is having an effect in other ways. I noticed an article in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel on Monday that mentioned Saputo Cheese plans to add 650 jobs in Milwaukee County. Good news to be sure, but picking an urbanized area seems like an odd choice for a cheese plant.

And the reason why is alarming - because the company says it’s more likely to get employees in bigger cities, and in having them not have to miss time with COVID.

The planned Franklin facility comes as Saputo faces challenges in finding workers at U.S. locations — especially in rural areas.

In response, the company has raised wages, provided bonus referrals and increased advertising, according to the latest earnings statement.

"These efforts have yet to yield any tangible benefits as we continue to run certain facilities well below optimal staffing levels in the USA," the statement [said].

"Labour challenges are compounded by the fact that many of the rural areas where we operate have lower vaccination rates as compared to the general population, which can lead to higher infection rates in the community and therefore higher absenteeism," it said.

The statement said the situation will improve if the Biden administration's vaccine mandate for businesses with 100 or more workers takes effect. A federal appeals court on Saturday temporarily halted that mandate pending lawsuits seeking to overturn it.

COVID-iocy has its consequences, and not just for the Green and Gold these days.

Maybe the warmer weather in the past week can blunt this rise, and seeing kids 5-11 getting their shots has to bring the numbers down among an especially suspceptible group. But we're also close to the time when you have to spend a lot more time indoors in these parts, and that leads to higher colds and flu in a normal situation, let alone an historic pandemic.

We need to get things back under control, especially in the 920 and 715. I'm tired of seeing this thing drag on for no good reason, and yes, COVID is increasingly becoming a red-voting condition. Which will likely get worse as highly educated, blue-leaning Wisconsin places rush to get their kids vaxxed while outlying, anti-vax areas don't.

Frm @NYT David Leonhardt
"The gap in #COVID19 death toll betwn red & blue America has grown faster over the past month than at any previous point: 25 of every 100,000 residents of heavily #Trump counties died from Covid, >3Xs higher than the rate in heavily #Biden counties." pic.twitter.com/jNoDzhpVK1

— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) November 9, 2021