The number of coronavirus deaths in Wisconsin is near 100, as public health experts worry about a spike in cases due to the state holding its election on Tuesday. The state Department of Health Services reported Wednesday that there had been 99 deaths from COVID-19 to date with nearly 2,800 confirmed cases. The number of confirmed cases increased by about 7% from Tuesday. Wisconsin’s forging ahead with an election in the middle of a pandemic has public health officials, and those who showed up at the polls, worried. “From a public health perspective, this was counter to all good scientific evidence and advice right now for how to continue to curb the pandemic from having serious impacts in the state,” said Kristen Malecki, an epidemiologist at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. Caleb Andersen, 40, said he was concerned that holding the election would wipe out any progress Wisconsin had made in slowing the spread of the virus. Andersen worked at one of Milwaukee’s five polling places where he said 3,800 people voted, and feels certain he was exposed despite all efforts at safety.
