How Wisconsin turned around its lagging vaccination program and buoyed a Biden health pick Isaac Stanley-Becker, Dan Diamond © Scott Bauer/AP Andrea Palm, formerly secretary-designee of the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, speaks to reporters in 2019. (AP Photo/Scott Bauer, File)
When President Biden announced in January that he would make Wisconsin’s top health official his No. 2 at the Department of Health and Human Services, the state seemed like a poor model for the nation’s most crucial public health priority: fighting the pandemic.
Wisconsin had just come through a surge more intense than New York City’s, and it ranked near the bottom of states in bringing a first dose of vaccine to its residents. Only about a third of doses sent to the state had been administered. The grim numbers galvanized Republicans in Wisconsin to take aim at a familiar target, state health secretary-designate Andrea Palm, whom they had refused to confirm since 20
Watch Now: Wisconsin health officials update the public on COVID-19 vaccine efforts
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A Pandemic Year: Looking back to when Wisconsin declared a COVID-19 crisis and the road still ahead
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Wisconsin Examiner
A year after COVID-19 arrived, considering what comes next for health and for society
Ani Weaver, a Madison nurse, speaking April 23, 2020, at a candlelight vigil for people hospitalized from COVID-19. The vigil was held in support of state public health measures the night before a demonstration opposing the state s Safer at Home order. (Photo by Luther Wu)
This coming Friday, March 12, will mark the anniversary of Wisconsin’s first COVID-19 health emergency.
When Gov. Tony Evers issued the declaration on Thursday, March 12, 2020, five Wisconsin residents had been confirmed positive with the novel coronavirus. A year later that number has multiplied by 110,000. In Wisconsin, the virus SARS-CoV-2 has infected more than 566,000 people, according to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS). It has taken nearly 6,500 lives.