COVID-19 CLIFF NOTES: 03.23.2020 ⋆ 715Newsroom.com

Here we are breaking into a new week, and no doubt this will be a new set of information to dissect when it comes to the Coronavirus pandemic. This Monday looks a lot different than last Monday and it will look different again tomorrow. But, as we are taking each day together we will let you know the latest, laid out in simple form. Your Covid-19 Cliff Notes are here.

As we follow the latest of the world pandemic, there is a lot (A LOT!) of information to digest, we will break it down from the larger (World) scope and work our way in here to Eau Claire and our own back yard and day to day lives. Trying to outline the basics and keep the information accurate, bite size, and easy to follow.

First of all, COVID19 is the name given to COronaVIrus Disease 2019, for the year that it was first detected. Now that we have that established we will look at the latest cliff notes.

WORLD: Dr. Anthony Fauci doesn’t think the U.S. will have the same coronavirus trajectory as Italy. On CBS’ Face The Nation, one of the nation’s top health officials talked about Italy not taking steps soon enough to keep out infections. In contrast, Fauci touted President Trump’s travel restrictions to China and Europe. However, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases warned people about what’s coming as he said, “We’re gonna get hit, there’s no doubt about it.”

NATIONAL: The coronavirus death toll continues to rise in the U.S. President Trump is taking action to help states experiencing the worst of the coronavirus outbreak. Trump issued orders that allow the federal government to pay for the National Guard in states like New York, California and Washington State.

He’s already approved disaster declarations for New York and Washington, and California. Trump said the government has already sent critical medical equipment to those states, including respirators and masks. He’s also ordered the creation of federal medical stations with thousands of beds.

The Senate will have to try again today to pass a coronavirus stimulus package. The trillion-dollar bill did not get enough votes Sunday evening to clear a procedural block. Democratic leaders have signaled the bill isn’t what they’re looking for. The measure would provide checks of 12-hundred-dollars to many individuals, with more for each child in a family.

STATE: There are now four people sick with the coronavirus in Eau Claire. The latest report from the state’s Department of Health Services says 381 people in the state are sick. Four are from Eau Claire County. Dunn and Chippewa counties have one case each.

The official coronavirus count in Wisconsin is nearly 400 people sick and four dead. The state’s Department of Health Services yesterday said that 381 people in the state have tested positive for the virus. More than six-thousand people have been tested and found to not be sick. One of the people who died from the virus was identified yesterday as 69-year-old former Milwaukee Police Lt. Lenard Wells, who played a critical role for African American officers in Milwaukee.

The top commander for the Wisconsin National Guard says his troops will not keep people in their homes. Major General Paul Knapp over the weekend said the Guard is being deployed to help doctors and public health managers. Knapp said troops will not take the place of local police, and/or enforce the governor’s orders for people to stay at home and stay away from certain businesses. Knapp says people are spreading rumors about a troop-enforced lock down to ‘instill a sense of hysteria across the United States.’

LOCAL: It is looking less and less likely that schools in Wisconsin will come back this spring. Governor Tony Evers yesterday issued a new order that gives the state’s Department of Public Instruction more leeway to forgive schools who are not in session because of the coronavirus.

The new order suspends the rules for the number of hours students have to spend in school, gives DPI more flexibility with other deadlines, and gives student teachers credit for weeks that they will not spend in their classrooms. The governor has ordered schools across Wisconsin closed until further notice.