Wisconsin's overstretched hospitals are offering high pay and massive signing bonuses to attract health care workers who could help treat the scores of new COVID-19 patients arriving each day. sheboyganpress.com/story/news/202… via @madeline_heim
@madeline_heim As the patient load increases — 1,546 residents were hospitalized with the virus as of Friday afternoon, up from 340 in mid-September — front-line workers are often forced to quarantine or care for a child who's quarantined, or they get infected themselves.
@madeline_heim Hospitals have started executing backup plans: repurposing employees from other areas of the health system, bringing back retirees and enlisting students getting their nursing degrees from local colleges.
@madeline_heim Traveling health care workers are lending a hand, too, much as they did for New York hospitals in the spring. The difference now is that cases are reaching record levels in nearly half of U.S. states, not just in one city.
Hospitals can create dozens of additional beds if needed, but they can't wave a magic wand to produce more nurses to staff them.
That's proven true recently, and the influx of new cases in the past week means crowded hospitals will get worse before they get better. They're hoping their staffs — already exhausted, traumatized and picking up extra shifts — can keep up.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
Trump campaign says it will seek a recount in Wisconsin.
Here's the deal on recounts in WI: If the race stays within 1 percentage point, the losing candidate can force a recount. If the margin is larger than that, there's no chance for one.
Before any decision could be made, official results need to be finalized over the coming weeks
A recount in 2016 resulted in few changes to the final tally in Wisconsin. That year, Trump won the state by fewer than 23,000 votes out of about 3 million cast.
Waiting on AP calls in Wisconsin legislative races but some projections:
Dem Sen. Patty Schachtner has conceded to GOP state Rep. Rob Stafsholt in the 10th Senate District.
Schachtner won the traditionally GOP district in '18, seen as the start of a "blue wave" that year
.@debforwi is declaring victory over incumbent GOP Rep. Jim Ott of Mequon -- a legislative race in the Milwaukee suburbs.
@debforwi .@SpeakerVos is declaring victory over his Democratic opponent Joel Jacobsen, whom he leads by 16 percentage points despite hundreds of thousands spent in the race by Democrats
In Wisconsin Congressional races, AP calls races for Democratic Rep. @RepGwenMoore and Republican Rep-elect @FitzgeraldForWI, who is the state Senate Majority Leader.
.@FitzgeraldForWI: "I entered this race because I wanted to bring the common-sense, conservative reforms that we’ve championed here in Wisconsin to Washington ..."
.@GovEvers' campaign releases ad before Nov election criticizing Republicans over pandemic response.
Six-figure ad buy on TV, digital and mail using funds raised during recall effort.
@GovEvers Response from @SenFitzgerald: "The Governor’s ad shamelessly exploits the COVID crisis to push a partisan political message. Using his own political campaign account to politicize the pandemic and baselessly attack Republicans is about as cynical as it gets."
@GovEvers@SenFitzgerald "As Governor of the State of Wisconsin, attempting to lay the responsibility for pandemic response at the feet of the legislature simply demonstrates Tony Evers’ poor leadership of an administration more focused on politics than on coming together for meaningful reform ..."