After a few days of what seemed like a flattening curve, Wisconsin saw another spike in cases. Today had the single largest increase of new cases reported statewide, yesterday the second largest. The Secretary of the Department of Health Services extended Wisconsin’s Safer at Home order to May 26, but the Legislature asked the State Supreme Court to stop the extension. As we face these uncertain times, Kids Forward will continue to fight for those furthest from opportunity. This is another clear example of how policy matters now more than ever.

We joined over 200 organizations and individuals to sign a letter in support of extending our Safer at Home Order. Without Safer at Home, we risk overwhelming our health systems and our first responders will be at higher risk. We will endanger vulnerable Wisconsinites and cost even more lives. Click here to read the letter and see who joined us. We were also proud to join an amicus brief submitted to the State Supreme Court in support of the extension, citing the inequitable impact that COVID-19 is having on communities of color and others furthest from opportunity.

This pandemic is shining a light on a fundamental problem with our country’s health care system – its reliance on job-based insurance as the primary source of health care coverage. Because of that linkage, the massive increase in unemployment since mid-March has caused millions of Americans to lose their health insurance – at the very time when access to testing and treatment is more important than ever.

This week, Kids Forward prepared two documents related to the challenges brought by sudden loss of insurance coverage due to wide-spread spikes in unemployment. The first is a fact sheet that provides tips for the newly uninsured regarding their options for getting health insurance. The second focuses on the need for health insurance policy change. The blog post Lesson from a Pandemic details the importance of making fundamental changes so that everyone is covered with stable, affordable, comprehensive coverage. It also addresses policy changes that need to be made now to lessen coverage gaps and thereby improve access to Coronavirus testing and treatment, and to begin reducing the large racial disparities in health care access and outcomes.

Kids Forward wrote a blog post Both Essential and Expendable, about how as we grapple with the horrible human cost of COVID-19 we must acknowledge and address that Black, Latino, & Native communities are disproportionately impacted & dying. They also endure disproportionate sacrifices and hardships to defeat the disease, and how many are employed in jobs that are now considered essential working for low-pay and limited benefits.

In addition to our research and analysis on current actions, Kids Forward is advocating for our future. We are working to be sure every kid and baby is counted in the 2020 Census so Wisconsin not only receives as much federal funding as possible for important programs, but also has the correct apportionment of seats in Congress to properly represent everyone. To be certain EVERY kid has opportunity, we engaged children throughout the state in our 2020 Census Art Competition.

The Top 10 entries were chosen for our 2020 Census Art Competition! Five children will win a $100 gift card, funded through a grant to encourage everyone to complete the Census. Click here to like your favorite artwork depicting "What does it look like when EVERY kid in Wisconsin is counted?"