Stoughton
VOTE!
Holly TELLANDER Timothy BUBON
Thursday, April 2, 2020 • Vol. 138, No. 37 • Stoughton, WI • ConnectStoughton.com • $1.50
Testing positive
APRIL 7th
Stoughton School Board
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Courier Hub The
COVID-19 response
A Stoughton-area resident who contracted COVID-19 shares her story MACKENZIE KRUMME
Inside
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Town of Dunn resident Bev Fergus woke up on March 13 with chills, a fever and could barely take a full breath. Three days and two state of Utah clinics later, she was approved for a COVID-19 test. On Monday, March 16, Fergus received the test results back – she tested positive. As doctors and nurses in hazmat suits and breathing masks gave Fergus her mouth and nose swab, she became case number 2,800 in the U.S. to test positive for the disease. Today, the U.S has more cases than anywhere else in the world, surpassing China and Italy with more than 163,000 people infected with COVID-19. Fergus, who is spending the winter in Park City, Utah, said the process of getting diagnosed with COVID-19 was painful for her and the people around her. She spent the previous week with 12 people on a ski trip – five of them are doctors. After Fergus was later diagnosed, none of the people she spent the week with prior qualified for testing. In Wisconsin, the Department of Health Services has recommended a four tiered testing system because of a “shortage of ingredients needed to run the tests.” The 12 others, friends of her son and nephews, arrived in Utah at the beginning of March. They flew in from Europe, around the United
Election inspectors in short supply Page 3 Hub begins listing available helpers Page 3 Updated restaurant listings Page 6 Weum’s season comes to abrupt end Page 7 States and Australia for their annual family ski trip. Five of them are doctors, with three of them working in the emergency room, she said. “At the beginning we were kind of joking around about it, but honestly, back then when they got here (President Donald) Trump is kind of still dismissing it, downsized everything. So we went about our business,” Fergus said. During that week the group went skiing down mountains in Park City, stayed out late at the bars and had dinner with
Turn to Positive/Page 16
Photo by Mackenzie Krumme
Positive messages sit on sandwich boards on Hwy. 51 in Stoughton. One reads, “thank your nurses and doctors.”
Stoughton settling in Community begins getting used to quarantine
JIM FEROLIE Hub editor
As March came to a close, Wisconsinites and the rest of the United States began accepting the reality that we’ll all stay in our semi-quarantine for several weeks or more because of the novel coronavirus outbreak. And Stoughtonites came up with all sorts of creative ways to interact with others and use their extra time together at home. Families drew sidewalk chalk messages. Friends held virtual dinners or drinks using remote technology. And people in all sorts of situations looked for ways to help those hit hardest. Businesses looked for ways to adjust their services to meet the needs
of an entire population unable to venture out of their homes for anything beyond basic necessities and exercise. And local governments prepared to hold online meetings and deal with an upcoming election. As state and national leaders repeatedly emphasized the importance of quarantine and social distancing to stop the virus’ spread, they prepared us for it to get worse – much worse than the 800,000 cases and nearly 40,000 deaths from COVID-19 as of Tuesday, March 31. The illness, caused by the coronavirus, was declared a pandemic March 11 by the World Health Organization, setting off a series of previously unthinkable events, such as the cancellation of all organized sports, concerts and conventions and most travel. In two weeks, the United States took the lead in COVID cases, and by the end of the month, it was 50 percent higher
than in Italy, which has had its health care system collapse under the burden. To prevent that, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers signed a Safer at Home order, making official what had been expected for days – a prohibition on all nonessential travel and business, with the threat of fines and jail time for violators, though Stoughton police said that would be a last resort. The order included the closure of all playgrounds. The state’s monthlong declaration was joined March 29 by President Donald Trump’s announcement that Americans should plan on staying home at least through April – a significant change from his prior insistence that people should be working again by Easter. In Stoughton, residents generally held one another accountable to the
Turn to COVID/Page 16
Spring election
Polling places for City of Stoughton consolidated to SWAC Preference and Primary Election. All previous locations will now be consolidated into one – the Stoughton Wellness and Athletic Center. A press release from city clerk Holly Licht on KIMBERLY WETHAL AND Monday, March 30 stated RENEE HICKMAN that all four of Stoughton’s districts will vote in difUnified Newspaper Group ferent parts of the center. The city will only have The usual polling locations one polling location for — Stoughton Fire Station, the April 7 Presidential First Lutheran Church,
Ballot includes Supreme Court seat, presidential primary
Courier Hub
are four candidates running for three seats: incumbents Tim Bubon and Steve Jackson and newcomers Holly Telander and Jessica Royko. The other contested race is for the Dane County Board of Supervisors, between newcomers Kate McGinnity and Kris James Bruenig, after incumbent Bob Salov declined to
Turn to Polling/Page 15
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Bev Fergus goes downhill skiing each year in Utah. As of March 16 she is stuck in Park City, Utah self quarintied with COVID-19.
United Methodist Church, and Lakeview Church — will be closed, Licht said. “We are all trying our best to navigate through this difficult time,” she said. The state-wide April 7 election will feature two contested races for Stoughtonites, with all other races having one candidate running unopposed. For the Stoughton Area School District board, there