SMART MILWAUKEEANS - It's up to you Campaign can draw significant funding from the American Rescue Plan

CORONAVIRUS - COVID-19 in Milwaukee, WI - 96.8 square miles (below are verbatim comments for the most part from CDC and WI Department of Health)

JUNE 6, 2021

An UPDATED VERSION

MILWAUKEE || 

On June 1, 2021, Tom Barrett mayor of Milwaukee, and Kirsten Johnson Commissioner of Health launched an order that "STOP MASK WEARING".  The abrupt announcement came without a discussion with the 15 alderpersons - Common Council.  It was seen as insensitive and unsafe since African Americans are the most vulnerable race and the largest race in the city of Milwaukee - 86.9 square miles has 20% vaccination.  Both Barrett (weekly Milwaukee County Briefing) and Johnson (visit before the Safety & Health Committee) seemed cavalier in comments.

We the People Under New Management - an advocacy group - have called for African Americans to lead the outreach of "IT'S UP TO YOU CAMPAIGN". 

This is an outside PUSH representing African Americans, other People of Color, Work Challenged, and disenfranchised Milwaukeeans who were abruptly detached June 1, 2021, during a time of mixed messages, 20% vaccination (African Americans) and on/off leadership for health safety.  

The city of Milwaukee Health Department has a 4-year or more of unstable leadership.  

The doors at the Zeidler Municipal Building, 841 N. Broadway,  have been fraught with toxicity and lacking confidence at the Commissioner level - Bevan Baker, Patricia McManus, Jeanette Kowalik, and Kirsten Johnson.  

We now have Claire Evers on administrative leave.

Lilliann Paine and Griselle Torres, who served as chief of staff and the deputy health commissioner, left since Johnson was hired.

Jeff Fleming operating in and out positions for factotum coverage of Tom Barrett's mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic to date.

Kirsten Johnson came in from a small Caucasian environment with a lack of experience providing HEALTH SAFETY to African American customer.  Johnson lack of experience is glaring on the inside with staff and outside of the health department.  

Barrett and handy staff engages in gaslighting every chance they get to "praise" her dismal work.

Johnson’s predecessor, Jeanette Kowalik, left the department in September because of toxicity, racism and threats. 

Racism, threats and refusal to accept Jeanette Kowalik as the leader of the Milwaukee Health Department caused her to bolt from double standards.

Kirsten Johnson and Tom Barrett were eager to wave the "STOP MASK" wearing and go to the Brewer's game.

Tom, African Americans are NOT excited about attending a Brewer's game or a ticket to Summerfest.

Hesitancy ha grown due to lack of consistent information of safety, convenience of access, baby/young children care, parent/senior care, lack of finance and knowledge for transportation.

Remember many of these folks are yet working 1-2 jobs on the front line. 

"Hesitancy" issues also include the horror stories due to decades of malpractice of Caucasians in public health - Tuskegee-Syphilis testing and John Hopkcns Henretta Lacks stolen cells behavior - many of us have family stories of the actual acts of the bacteria isolaation and pain of syphilis.  We also experience insensitivity, disassociation of crisis shared but disowned by those who do not have a clue OR care to understand.  This is heard by African Americans when they hear the one size fits all by Barrett and Johnson. 

African Americans have been tortured by bad practices of Caucasians in public health experiments and elected officials failing to protect their rights of safety - as in the city of Milwaukee with appropriate outreach and participation.  History can support the deep-rooted tenacity of African Americans and building a way out of no way.  

It's up to you Campaign is our opportunity to help ourselves and so many others - just like we always do.  We have hired elected officials that took an Oath to protect our rights.  Let's call them forward - Marina Dimitrijevic, Chair, Safety & Health Committee.

We start with the opportunity of the BIDEN/HARRIS will/plan that comes with infrastructure funding.  We will first get ALL VACCINATED.  In the meantime,  

• VACCINATE YOU AND ALL MEMBERS OF YOUR FAMILY (12 years and above).
• WEAR YOUR MASK.  
• WATCH YOUR HANDS REGULARLY.  
• DISTANCE. 

Health equity is when all members of society enjoy a fair and just opportunity to be as healthy as possible. Public health policies and programs centered around the specific needs of communities can promote health equity.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought social and racial injustice and inequity to the forefront of public health. It has highlighted that health equity is still not a reality as COVID-19 has unequally affected many racial and ethnic minority groups, putting them more at risk of getting sick and dying from COVID-19.  [1], [2] The term “racial and ethnic minority groups” includes people of color with a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences. Negative experiences are common to many people within these groups, and some social determinants of health have historically prevented them from having fair opportunities for economic, physical, and emotional health. [3] Social determinants of health are the conditions in the places where people live, learn, work, play, and worship that affect a wide range of health risks and outcomes.

Factors that contribute to increased risk

Many factors, such as poverty and healthcare access, are intertwined and have a significant influence on the people’s health and quality-of-life. [3] Racial and ethnic minority populations are disproportionately represented among essential workers and industries, which might be contributing to COVID-19 racial and ethnic health disparities. “Essential workers” are those who conduct a range of operations and services in industries that are essential to ensure the continuity of critical functions in the United States, from keeping us safe to ensuring food is available at markets, to taking care of the sick. A majority of these workers belong to and live within communities disproportionately affected by COVID-19. Essential workers are inherently at higher risk of being exposed to COVID-19 due to the nature of their work, and they are disproportionately representative of racial and ethnic minority groups.

Table of Evidence

The Table of Evidence is here to provide Milwaukeeans with hands-on information to compare immune points and risk points.

 Evidence used to inform the list of underlying medical conditions that increase a person’s risk of severe illness from COVID-19. In alphabetic order by section.

Evidence used to update the list of underlying medical conditions that increase a person’s risk of severe illness from COVID-19

Tier	Condition	Evidence of Impact on COVID-19 Severity [Reference number]
Supported by meta-analysis/systematic review	Cancer	Systematic Review [1, 2] Cohort Study [3-5] Case Series [6-8] Case Control Study [9]
	Cerebrovascular disease	Meta-Analysis [10-13] Synthesis of Evidence [14] Cohort Study [15-17]
	Chronic kidney disease	Meta-Analysis [13, 18] Cohort Studies [16, 19-40], {41}* Case Series [42-44]
	COPD	Meta-Analysis [45-47] Systematic Review [48, 49]
	Diabetes mellitus, type 1	Meta-Analysis [50] Case Series [43] Cohort Study [15, 51-56]
	Diabetes mellitus, type 2	Meta-Analysis [57] Systematic Review  {58}* Gestational Diabetes Systematic Review {59}* Case Series [43] Longitudinal Study [60] Cohort Study [50, 54, 60-65]
	Heart conditions (such as heart failure, coronary artery disease, or cardiomyopathies)	Meta-Analysis [66-68] Cohort Study [15, 16]
	Smoking, current and former	Meta-Analysis [45, 67, 69-76]
	Obesity	Systematic Review {58}* Cohort [24, 80-88], {41, 89-92}* Meta-Analysis [77-79]
	Pregnancy and Recent Pregnancy	Systematic Review [58, 59, 93] Case Control [94, 95] Case Series [96-98] Cohort Study [99-102]
Supported by mostly cohort, case-control, or cross-sectional studies (if there is a systematic review or meta-analysis available, it represents one condition in a larger category of conditions)	Children with certain underlying conditions	Systematic Review [103, 104] Cross-Sectional Study [105-107] Cohort Study [108-116] Case Series [117, 118]
	Down syndrome	Cohort Study [119, 120]
	HIV	Cohort Study [32, 121-123] Case Series [124-126]
	Neurologic conditions	Review [127] Cross-Sectional Study [105] Cohort Study [16, 108]
	Overweight	Cohort Study [83] Case Series [88]
	Other lung disease (including interstitial lung disease, pulmonary fibrosis, pulmonary hypertension)	Cohort [128-130], {92}*
	Sickle cell disease	Cohort [117, 118, 131, 132] Case Series [117, 132-147]
	Solid organ or blood stem cell transplantation	Meta-Analysis [86] Case Series [148-159] Cohort [160]
	Substance use disorders	Case-Control Study [161-163] Cohort Study [164, 165]
	Use of corticosteroids or other immunosuppressive medications	Cohort Study [166] Cross Sectional [167] Case Series [168-170]
Supported by mostly case series, case reports or, if other study design, the sample size is small (and no systematic review or meta-analysis available were reviewed)	Cystic fibrosis	Case Series [171-173] Cohort [174]
	Thalassemia	Case Series [175-178] Cross Sectional [179]
Supported by mixed evidence	Asthma	Meta-Analysis [180-182] Review [183] Case Series [184] Cohort Study [16, 40, 185-190]
	Hypertension	Meta-Analysis [67, 191-194] Systematic Review [195], {58}* Cohort Study [15, 16, 19, 187, 196-202] Case Series [203]
	Liver disease	Meta-Analysis [204-208] Cohort [19, 28, 42, 209-223] Case-Control [224-229] Cross sectional [230] Case Series [231-233]
	Immune deficiencies	Meta-Analysis [234] Cohort [235-237] Case Series [148, 149, 157, 238-241]

THE TABLE OF EVIDENCE is important for Milwaukeeans - IT'S UP TO YOU CAMPAIGN - to document and have as a reference for decision making and helping to ensure their protection going forward.

COVID-19: Emerging SARS-CoV-2 Variants

What are SARS-CoV-2 variants and how do they occur?

A variant is a new strain of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the virus that causes COVID-19. Variants occur through mutations, which are changes in the genetic code of a virus. Variants have specific gene mutations that make them unique and different from the original SARS-CoV-2 virus. Viruses, including SARS-CoV-2, naturally change or mutate over time and the new variants are expected to occur. For more data on SARS-CoV-2 sequencing and variants in Wisconsin, visit the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene's website.

June 7, 2021

Updated

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