MADISON, Wis. — One year ago, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic. Since then, the pandemic has changed all of our lives in ways we’ll still likely be grappling with long after the pandemic comes to an end.
During a Wisconsin Department of Health Services media briefing Thursday, Gov. Tony Evers took time to reflect on the year and all of its challenges.
“This past year has been challenging and unrelenting, and folks have spent it worrying; worrying about the health and safety of their families and friends; worrying about finding work or being safe at work; worrying about the future of the business they built from the ground up; and worrying about making sure that they could keep the lights and heat on at home,” Evers said. “It sure hasn’t been easy and we never could have known the toll this pandemic would take, and the tragedy it would bring, especially for the families and loved ones of the 6,524 Wisconsinites who died from COVID-19 this year. With those we lost in our hearts and in our minds, we are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel.”
The light at the end of the tunnel, progress with vaccinating Wisconsinites, is growing brighter each and every day. DHS officials announced Thursday that an estimated 2 million Wisconsinites will be eligible for vaccination at the end of the month. The general population is expected to be able to get vaccinated by May.
In the time since the first doses arrived in Wisconsin in December, health care workers throughout the state have administered 1,837,885 vaccines. Just under 20% of the state’s population has received at least one dose of vaccine. About 11% of Wisconsinites were fully vaccinated as of Thursday afternoon, according to the latest DHS data.
Compared to the whole state, Dane County’s vaccination efforts are slightly ahead. As of Thursday, 21.9% of Dane County residents, including 75% of residents over 65, had been vaccinated, according to Doug Voegeli, director of PHMDC’s Environmental Health Division.
“It’s great to be able to say this now, one year from when the pandemic was declared, that we could possibly be seeing, in a few months, a drastic change in our communities as we are able to open up more as more people are vaccinated and our cases continue to decline,” Voegeli said. “I am really hopeful that this summer is going to look much different than last summer, and hope we can keep moving in that direction.”
As more and more Wisconsinites are vaccinated, many are looking forward to life returning to normal. Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway, though, said she has other goals in mind.
“I’m not looking to get back to normal. I’m looking to get back to better because we need to not go back to the same level of inequality that we saw, to the same racial disparities we saw,” Rhodes-Conway said. “We need to move forward.”
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