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The COVID-19 childcare chasm
In ordinary times, navigating childcare has been a challenge for working families for decades. COVID-19 has increased the difficulty seismically, sending shockwaves not just through households, but businesses, communities and providers alike. Last week the Wisconsin Policy Forum reported that as of May, nearly 40% of childcare providers in the state had closed as a […]
COVID-19 job losses cut millions loose from health insurance; millions more will follow
By the end of 2020, 10.1 million people in the U.S. will probably lose health insurance because they or their family members have lost work due to COVID-19, a new report released Monday forecasts — and more than 1 in 3 of them will be unable to find a replacement policy. The findings are tied […]
Milwaukee becomes state’s largest city with mandate for masks to prevent COVID-19 spread
A citywide ordinance requiring people in public places to wear masks to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 passed the Milwaukee Common Council unanimously Monday afternoon, with the support of business groups in the city while a statewide business lobby registered objections. The ordinance requires anyone 3 years old or older in the city to […]
With COVID-19, advocate urges a new look at transitional jobs programs
Just a few months ago, employers across Wisconsin and the nation were complaining about widespread shortages of people to do the jobs they were offering. Today, that’s been turned on its head: with unemployment at 12%, driven by the COVID-19 pandemic, a jobs shortage has taken the place of the labor shortage that was the […]
Report describes COVID-19’s impact on child care providers
The COVID-19 pandemic has strained health care and crashed the economy. A report Thursday outlined another major casualty: child care providers. Statewide, as of mid-May, two out of five licensed childcare providers in the state had closed due to disruptions caused by the pandemic, states the report, produced by the Wisconsin Policy Forum (WPF) drawing […]
State to implement mask rule for executive branch employees
State employees will be required to wear face masks on the job in state facilities or on state business in other enclosed buildings outside their homes starting Monday, July 13, according to an updated memo from the state’s Department of Personnel Management. “The decision to require face masks was made in response to the increases […]
Assembly GOP pitches loans as unemployment backlog relief
At a news conference outside the west entrance of the Capitol on Wednesday afternoon, Assembly Republicans renewed their attacks on Gov. Tony Evers and the Department of Workforce Development for the state’s continued COVID-19 induced backlog of unemployment claims — then offered free advice on fixing it. Their proposal: Lend people whose applications have been […]
COVID-19 is surging. Evers says state can offer help — but no new orders.
The COVID-19 death toll is slowing down, but the infection is spreading in Wisconsin at the fastest rate in months. And Gov. Tony Evers said Tuesday that while the state is providing resources to combat it, the most direct tools are in the hands of Wisconsin residents, acting voluntarily. “Folks, we cannot let this trend […]
Evers favors aid for states pinched for funds by COVID-19
Gov. Tony Evers on Tuesday said he would support federal legislation to help states make up for revenues lost as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic over the last several months. “Clearly, revenue shortage is a major issue for us here in our state, but also every state in the union,” Evers told the Wisconsin […]
Lawmakers who nixed aid for state government got help for their own businesses
In early May, 43 state lawmakers sent a letter to the Wisconsin congressional delegation with an emphatic message: Don’t provide financial relief to state governments. The legislators, all Republicans, characterized the act of helping state governments offset revenue losses from the COVID-19 pandemic as “funding bailouts for irresponsible states across the country, like Illinois, New […]
Lost income, postponed healthcare, skipped rent
Nearly half of Wisconsin residents in a federal survey say that they’ve put off medical care because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and more than one in five are looking ahead to someone in their household losing a job or having their hours cut. Those are some of the newest findings in the U.S. Census Bureau’s […]
After a respite, COVID-19 sickens hundreds more each day
Through the first half of June confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Wisconsin looked like they might be on their way down. In the last two weeks that’s changed. Infections from the virus responsible for the illness have been rising, at times by record numbers each day. Deaths have been increasing as well, though more erratically. […]