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Ebola, enterovirus and other viruses
How dangerous is Ebola for people in Southwest Wisconsin?
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Few things today might seem as terrifying as the prospect of dying from the Ebola virus.

The early symptoms of backache, chills, diarrhea, fatigue, fever, headache, nausea and vomiting sound unpleasant enough, though similar to the flu.

It’s the later symptoms — bleeding from the eyes, ears, nose, mouth and other orifices, eye swelling, skin pain and bloody rash — that get someone’s attention, as well as the fact that there is no known cure.

That is despite the fact that, according to Robert Pastor, vice president of patient care services at Southwest Health, “More people die of the influenza virus every year than have died from Ebola so far.”

If you’re a parent, you might be less concerned with the Ebola virus and more concerned with Enterovirus D68, which most strikes infants, children and teenagers. Almost 1,000 children have been infected with the virus nationwide, and eight deaths have been reported.

Pastor notes that Ebola has had “no reported cases in Wisconsin, and the risk of getting it is very low. The number one screening is whether somebody’s been coming from those countries” in Africa.

On the other hand, Southwest Health has had one enterovirus case, a 7-year-old child, who recovered.

“It’s been around for years, but we don’t usually see it to the extent we’ve seen it this year,” said Sandy Andrews, infection preventionist at Southwest Health. She said the enterovirus usually strikes in the summer and fall, but it has been more prevalent this year.

Mild symptoms of Enterovirus D68 include fever, running nose, sneezing, cough, and body and muscle aches. More severe symptoms may include wheezing and difficulty breathing.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has an enterovirus test, but it took several weeks to be diagnosed, Andrews said. A new test takes a few days.

Both the enterovirus and Ebola are viruses, and neither has a cure nor antiviral medication. Andrews said enterovirus treatments are “symptomatic treatments — respiratory support and supportive measures.” People with more severe symptoms may be hospitalized.

The enterovirus generally diminishes in late fall.

As for Ebola, said Andrews, “We do have protocols in place if somebody was admitted to our facility.” She said the two tipoffs would be travel to Africa and symptoms common to Ebola. If both are in place, Andrews said the protocol is to
“isolate them and contain them,” after which a CDC rapid-response team would come to the hospital.

If a patient in a Wisconsin hospital were diagnosed with Ebola, the patient would be taken to one of four Wisconsin hospitals. Children would be taken to American Family Children’s Hospital in Madison or Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin in Wauwatosa. Adults would be taken to UW Hospital in Madison or Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee.

The fact that health care workers contracted Ebola from infected patients got attention.

“At that time we’d never had Ebola in the U.S. before,” said Andrews, and therefore hospitals didn’t have an Ebola-specific protocol. “The CDC is not clear how they contracted Ebola” — possibly through exposed skin or removing personal protective equipment.

Pastor said there are “four or five conference calls and webinars a day” on Ebola by the CDC and the World Health Organization. “The precautions hospitals should use, we can do,” he said, who added that an Ebola patient drill is scheduled for the near future.

Andrews said in case an Ebola patient was admitted, health care workers are now totally covered, and an observer watches a worker remove personal protective equipment.

Respiratory viruses are spread through an infected person’s saliva or nasal mucus. So is the flu, which has been reported in 20 Wisconsin hospitals, an order of magnitude more than the one or two hospitals usual this time of year.

“The one thing anybody can do to decrease the incidence of this is hand-washing — that’s the best thing for this and the flu and everything else out there,” said Andrews, who added people should avoid touching their eyes, nose or mouth with unwashed hands.

Andrews said people who feel sick should stay home from work or school. She also suggests getting a flu shot.

It was quite an election
On April 1
Election Results_April 1, 2025 Crawford County

Politics-weary Wisconsin citizens mustered the verve to once again go to the polls in Wisconsin’s April 1 spring election. With record spending, a barrage of campaign literature in mailboxes, chaos on the federal level, and an endless stream of divisive TV advertising, voters on both sides turned out in record numbers to support the candidates of their choice.

Happy or sad, it’s likely the vast majority is just glad it’s over. While most spring elections draw much lower turnout than a presidential election, voter turnout in this year’s race was on par with last November’s contentious election in which Donald Trump defeated Kamala Harris for the office of President of the United States.

Of course, the Wisconsin Supreme Court election took top billing, garnering record amounts of spending. Conservative versus liberal control of the court was on the line with the retirement of liberal justice Ann Walsh Bradley. Contending for the 10-year term were Waukesha County Judge Brad Schimel and Dane County Judge Susan Crawford.

The race was called for Crawford around 10 p.m. after Schimel called her to concede. The unofficial results show Crawford winning with 55% of the statewide vote to Schimel’s 45%.

Crawford County voters bucked recent electoral trends, carrying for the liberal candidate. In the county, Crawford took 51% of the vote, defeating Schimel with 49%. Crawford’s candidacy also prevailed in Vernon County with 54% of the vote, Richland County with 52% of the vote, La Crosse County with 63% of the vote, Sauk County with 57% of the vote, Iowa County with 62% of the vote, and Green County with 58% of the vote. Crawford’s victory was propelled by massive turnout and majorities in Dane, Milwaukee, Rock, Eau Claire and Bayfield counties. Voters in Dane County cast 82% of their votes for Crawford, in Milwaukee County 75%, in Rock County 61%, in Eau Claire 63%, and in Bayfield 61%.

Schimel’s campaign prevailed locally in Grant, Lafayette and Monroe counties, earning 52%, 51%, and 55% of votes cast respectively.

Incumbents prevail

It was also a night for incumbent candidates to prevail in races pertaining to public education in the state. Incumbent Wisconsin State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jill Underly won her race against charter school advocate Brittany Kinser, taking 53% of the statewide vote to Kinser’s 47%.

Locally, Underly outperformed Supreme Court candidate Susan Crawford, winning her contest in counties that carried for Waukesha County judge Brad Schimel. Those counties include Grant and Lafayette counties, where Underly took 52% of votes cast. Kinser held on to votes cast for Schimel in Monroe County, taking 56% of votes cast.

Underly’s candidacy prevailed in Crawford, Vernon, Richland, Iowa, Sauk, and La Crosse counties. In those counties, Underly took 53%, 54%, 56%, 61%, 57%, and 61% respectively.

Mirroring the results in the statewide Superintendent of Public Instruction race, incumbent candidates Jerry Coleman and Charissa Richter prevailed against challengers Jesse Swenson and Melany Jelinek winning two three-year terms on the North Crawford School Board.

Coleman was the top vote-getter, with 660 votes, followed by Richter with 532 votes. Richter and challenger Melany Jelinek ran neck-in-neck for much of the night until results came in for the villages of Gays Mills and Bell Center, which pushed Richter over the finish line ahead. Jelinek finished with 502 votes, and Swenson with 412 votes.

Coleman took the most votes in the towns of Clayton, Haney, Scott, Utica, and in the villages of Bell Center, Gays Mills, and Soldiers Grove. Richter took the second most votes in the towns of Clayton, Haney, Scott, and Utica, and in the villages of Gays Mills and Soldiers Grove. Jelinek took more votes than Richter in the town of Freeman, and in the villages of Bell Center and Mt. Sterling.

Voter ID

Voters across the state voted to amend the Wisconsin Constitution to require photo identification to vote. The measure failed only in Dane and Milwaukee counties. Wisconsin had already required voters to show identification, but passage of the Republican-backed ballot question will make it harder for that requirement to be removed by the courts or the state legislature.

Statewide, the measure passed with 63% of the vote, with 37% of the voters voting against it.