Oct. 1 measure of WI's dire COVID outbreak: 3,004 new cases vs. Canada's 1,777

The contrast is obviously more shocking because the entire ocean-to-ocean nation of Canada (its COVID case data are here) has about 37.8 million people, while the State of Wisconsin( COVID-19 data here) has just over 5.8 million people, or less than one-sixth Canada's total.

I began noting the imbalance On September 24 when I saw that Wisconsin was outpacing all of Canada in admissions to hospital Intensive Care Units (ICUs).

Canada reports 92 COVID-19 patients currently in intensive care units there, while Wisconsin exceeds that number by more than 50% with 140 [See "Hospital Capabilities" chart]. 

The data for October 1 using the same webpages above show Canada with 126 ICU admissions, Wisconsin with 181. So while the percentage spread fell marginally over a week, the gap in raw numbers between far-less-populated Wisconsin and all of the nation of Canada remains dramatically tilted against Wisconsin. 

And yet, Wisconsins GOP legislative leaders went to court Friday in support of a lawsuit to overturn the Governor Evers' COVID-19 pandemic-controlling masking mandate. 

MADISON - Republican legislative leaders went to court Friday to show support for a lawsuit against Gov. Tony Evers' statewide mask mandate after more than 17,000 people in Wisconsin tested positive in the last week and some hospitals are on the brink of being overwhelmed. 

The move also came the same day President Donald Trump, who does not wear face masks regularly, tested positive for the coronavirus and officials said he would be hospitalized for a few days.

It began two years ago and the power grabbing hasn't stopped since: