Covid-19 Pounds Wisconsin Ahead of Trump’s Green Bay Rally

(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump is preparing to hold rallies in Wisconsin this weekend just as Covid-19 cases in the state reach new heights, potentially exacerbating the spread and stoking debate on the ethics of campaigning during the pandemic.

On Tuesday, Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers said the virus was “devastating” the state, and called on Trump to cancel the events. Short of that, he said Trump must demand full mask usage at the Saturday stops at airports in La Crosse and Green Bay. Prior Trump rallies, though, have been marked by widespread flouting of such advice.

“Right now, it's not slowing down, it's picking up speed,” said Evers, a Democrat, in an online news conference. “We have got to put the brakes on this pandemic.”

Wisconsin's rolling seven-day average of new cases hit a record 2,255 Tuesday, triple the rate a month ago, according to state data. The one-week average positivity rate -- the percentage of tests that come back positive for the first time -- reached a staggering 17%, another high. And coronavirus hospitalizations rose statewide, with 98 people hospitalized with the disease in northeastern Wisconsin, where Green Bay is. That's about five times as many as a month ago.

A razor-thin 2016 victory in Wisconsin was a key to Trump's election, and it is likely to figure prominently in the outcome on Nov. 3.

Clean Politics

Courtney Parella, a Trump campaign spokeswoman, said Americans are enthusiastic about the president's re-election and have a First Amendment right to see him. “Like his other campaign events, everyone attending will receive a temperature check, be provided a mask they are encouraged to wear and have access to plenty of hand sanitizer,” she said.

The Midwest is getting slammed by the virus that propagated on Trump's watch, including many places that had relatively limited outbreaks until now. On a per-capita basis, thinly populated North Dakota has seen the most concerning case numbers. But Wisconsin's population centers in Milwaukee and Madison may be the real tinderboxes.

Although the region was a center of the pandemic months ago, the contours of its outbreak were much different then, including a significant share of cases in Michigan, led by heavily urban Detroit. Now, the Dakotas, Wisconsin and Iowa -- with about 3% of America's population combined -- have almost 10% of its cases.

Trump used a debate Tuesday against Democratic nominee Joe Biden to brag about the size of his rallies, claiming there had been “no negative effect” and implying the risk was minimal when they were held outside.

Biden, who has avoided large campaign events due to Covid-19, said Trump has been irresponsible for holding the events.

“Donald Trump is needlessly putting his own supporters and whole communities in danger with potential super-spreader gatherings as we fight to overcome the virus,” said Biden spokesman Andrew Bates.

Elsewhere in the U.S.:

• The National Football League has postponed a game after members of the Tennessee Titans tested positive for the virus, the league's first delay due to the virus.
• In New York City, positivity rates were starting to rise from relatively low levels. Neighboring New Jersey has confirmed novel coronavirus outbreaks in 11 of its 3,000 schools, with 43 individuals linked to schools testing positive. And in Miami-Dade County, the country's fourth-largest school district agreed to start a staggered return to school next week, after facing pressure from Republican Governor Ron DeSantis.
• Nationwide cases had been ebbing from a Sun Belt surge in July, but seem to have leveled off at around 40,000 cases a day.

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