Wednesday, June 2, 2021, 6:00am
La Crosse Teacher Julie Welch reflects on loss during the pandemic and her hopes for life now that she's fully vaccinated.
Tuesday, April 13, 2021, 5:45am
Following a March overnight shift in the emergency department at UW Health in Madison, nurse Mariah Clark walked outside and heard birds chirping for the first time in months. After a year of reflecting on the traumas she witnessed while treating COVID-19 patients and losing her own loved ones to the deadly disease, the spring song prompted introspection about a life after the pandemic.
Tuesday, April 6, 2021, 6:35am
La Crosse teacher Julie Welch has been surprised by the relationships she’s built with students and their families without even meeting them in person.
Wednesday, March 24, 2021, 8:30am
Paul Mathis is one of the roughly 10 percent of people whose COVID-19 infection became a "long haul," with symptoms that have persisted for months.
Thursday, March 18, 2021, 5:55am
WPR and Wisconsin Watch have followed a group of Wisconsinites through the life-changing experience of the COVID-19 pandemic. A year in, they reflect on how the pandemic reshaped their lives, and how they envision the future.
Wednesday, March 10, 2021, 6:15am
Julie Welch has taught middle school for 30 years. But she never imagined she'd be instructing 23 sixth graders over Zoom from the basement of her home in West Salem, Wisconsin.
Wednesday, March 3, 2021, 5:10am
Azul Kothari felt sure he would catch COVID-19 during the fall semester as infections surged at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. At the peak of last year’s outbreak, the university reported a weekly average of infections of more than 10 percent of students tested.
Wednesday, February 3, 2021, 5:00am
When Madison bartender Amy Moreland was first laid off in mid-March of 2020, she expected to be jobless for a few weeks, maybe a month. She did not predict the COVID-19 pandemic to rage for so long. With few prospects for a new service industry job, Moreland began pursuing a new career. She enrolled at Madison Area Technical College, aiming to earn a degree in social work.
Monday, December 28, 2020, 6:30am
Mariah Clark, an emergency department nurse at UW Health in Madison received her first dose of the coronavirus vaccine on Dec. 17.
Tuesday, October 27, 2020, 6:00am
COVID-19 is walloping the service industry, forcing some bars and restaurants to permanently close their doors while others shut down for winter.
Wednesday, October 14, 2020, 5:05am
As a weeks-long surge of coronavirus infections continue to grip Wisconsin, the state’s hospitals are filling up. As of Oct. 12, 74 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized in Dane County alone, where Mariah Clark works as an emergency department nurse at UW Health in Madison.
Monday, August 31, 2020, 5:00am
Jessica Barrera said her son Niko, who turns 11 this week, did well learning at home after the coronavirus pandemic shuttered schools nationwide this spring. Barrera was laid off from her job at an airport transport service in March and was initially denied unemployment benefits because she received federal disability assistance for a rare blood disorder. She has since returned to part-time work on weekends and will stand by as Niko returns to schooling this week.
Thursday, August 6, 2020, 5:00am
Dairy farmer Bryan Voegeli feels lucky that none of his workers have tested positive for COVID-19. But as the pandemic stretches on, he thinks it may be inevitable.
Wednesday, July 29, 2020, 5:30am
Adija Greer-Smith is rarely alone these summer mornings when she drives to her Milwaukee bakery, Confectionately Yours. Her oldest son, Xavier Smith, offers conversation while riding shotgun.
Wednesday, July 22, 2020, 6:00am
Madison bartender Amy Moreland, who has been out of work since mid-March, receives an extra $600 per week from the federal CARES Act stimulus package atop her $114 per week in state aid. But this federal benefit is set to expire at the end of this month, leaving Moreland and many other jobless Wisconsinites unsure about what’s next.
Tuesday, July 21, 2020, 5:00am
Mariah Clark is no stranger to dealing with COVID-19 in her work as an emergency department nurse at UW Health in Madison. As the coronavirus pandemic enters its fifth month, the virus as of July 16 claimed more than 130,000 lives in the United States, including more than 846 in Wisconsin.
Friday, July 10, 2020, 10:20am
Milwaukee County moved into "Phase 4" of its COVID-19 orders on July 1. That means businesses such as Adija Greer-Smith’s Confectionately Yours, housed inside the Sherman Phoenix, can now operate at 50 percent capacity.
Tuesday, July 7, 2020, 9:30am
Confined to her apartment since mid-March, senior living facility resident Beverly Blietz grew increasingly depressed. A former recreational pilot, Uber driver, art gallery docent and community volunteer, 85-year-old Blietz loved to drive around Door County visiting with friends and family, but found herself involuntarily locked down when the pandemic hit. Her 680-square-foot apartment, instead of offering independent living, began to feel more like a cage.
Tuesday, June 16, 2020, 7:00am
Before the pandemic, Jessica Barrera worked part-time for an airport shuttle service in Eau Claire, serving local travelers en route to larger cities like Minneapolis. After three months without a working wage, Barrera started a new job on June 6, working in marketing services at Menards on the weekends.
Tuesday, June 9, 2020, 5:55am
This summer looks markedly different for Beverly Blietz, who unexpectedly found her movements restricted — due to her age, the virus, and the rules of the independent living facility where she lives in Sister Bay.
Tuesday, June 2, 2020, 10:00am
Growing up on the northwest side of Milwaukee, Adija Greer-Smith saw plenty of lemonade stands but knew they weren’t for her. She was a baker. So she opened a cookie stand instead in her grandparents’ driveway. Now 40, and having just opened her bakery business in November 2018, Confectionately Yours, Greer-Smith was prepared for a lot of things to go wrong, but didn’t anticipate a pandemic.
Tuesday, May 26, 2020, 6:45am
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed day-to-day life for Wisconsinites in many ways. But for dairy farmer Bryan Voegeli, much has remained the same.
Thursday, May 14, 2020, 6:45am
As the rate of positive COVID-19 tests begins to drop in Wisconsin, momentum is growing to reopen the state. But frontline health care workers like Mariah Clark remain in the thick of things.
Monday, May 11, 2020, 6:00am
Madison bartender Amy Moreland has been out of work since mid-March, when the brewery where she worked closed its doors because of the coronavirus. The federal CARES Act stimulus package, passed more than a month ago, includes an extra $600 per week for people receiving unemployment benefits.
Monday, April 27, 2020, 6:00am
Just a few months ago, Madison bartender Amy Moreland’s life was headed in a good direction. But suddenly, that progress came to a halt when Moreland, 38, found out she wouldn’t be returning to work. The bar where she works closed its doors on March 17 following an executive order by Gov. Tony Evers.
Thursday, April 23, 2020, 6:45am
Mariah Clark is many things. She’s a blacksmith, a tall-ship sailor and an EMT. She’s also an emergency room nurse at UW Health in Madison, placing her on the frontlines of the pandemic in Dane County.