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With a steady hand and one leg bent slightly to the side, farmer Ron O’Neill drives the little tractor train at the Pumpkins Plus farm in Oshkosh. The trip to the cornfield will be an entertaining strip for all the children who have come with their parents to buy decorations for Halloween.
His wife Jo Anne Daun happily sums up the business.
– We had 2,800 pumpkins and now there are probably only 300 left. There have been more visits than in previous years. People are very happy to go out, he says.
Otherwise, you might have imagined that the people of Oshkosh had had enough terror this fall in the pandemic. The same week that President Donald Trump tested positive for the coronavirus, the small town in Winnebago County, Wisconsin, rose to the top spot in the New York Times ranking of hotspots in the United States.
Men Jo Anne Daun and Ron O’Neill are not afraid.
– The media have been so negative and have said that we must do one thing or another. But we live our lives as we always have. It is in God’s hands if we contract the virus, he says.
Her friend Debbie Greenwald says her son tested positive for the virus.
– He received vitamins from his wife and recovered, she says.
Jo Anne Daun and Ron O’Neill in front of the cornfield at Pumpkins Plus (as the farm is called in the fall). They are not afraid of the coronavirus.
Photo: Eva Tedesjö, Eva Tedesjö
We got some curious questions about the Swedish strategy. It will not be the only time during our visit to Oshkosh. People who criticize the restrictions around the pandemic show great interest in Sweden, especially since it is the country where people do not have to cover part of their face.
Mouthguards have become an important political symbol, in a small town in Wisconsin and in the rest of the United States. You can guess how people vote, without wearing badges or campaign shirts. In the case of Rebecca Enz, there is no question. We meet her outside a temporary Trumpshop near the highway, where she collects names to overthrow the Democratic Governor of Wisconsin, Tony Evers.
He hates mouth guards.
– In principle, I am opposed to someone making decisions about my body, which can affect my health. And we must be able to meet with smiles, otherwise we will be dehumanized, he says.
Then comes a little hymn to Sweden.
– I spend a lot of time reading about what is happening in different countries. Many have tried to paint Sweden in black. But I can only say thank you, thank you because there is only one country in this world that has made the right decision. You have wise experts and stable politicians.
“Fear is a lie, focus on living healthy and moving on with your life,” Rebecca Enz tells anyone who is afraid of the coronavirus. She is campaigning against Governor Evers and the mouth guards.
Photo: Eva Tedesjö, Eva Tedesjö
That’s what a person who clings to Trump says Fall 2020. Rebecca Enz is convinced that the President has recovered from his illness.
– You managed to change that pretty quickly, right? I should never have given much importance to the virus. But he does things his way, to provoke reactions, she says.
It is no news that attitudes toward the virus are sharply divergent in the United States, or that the vision of the pandemic has become heavily politicized. What’s special about Oshkosh is how small the gap is between Republican Donald Trump’s supporters and Democrat Joe Biden’s supporting troops.
Wisconsin is one of the states who can decide the presidential election. Donald Trump scored a narrow victory over Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election. Joe Biden leads opinion polls in 2020.
It remains to be seen if Oshkosh, a college town with plenty of scope, will switch from Republican light red to Democratic light blue in elections in a few weeks. But polarization can be measured in a few hundred steps, from Pumpkins Plus to neighbors with campaign posters of Joe Biden and his running mate Harris.
Or from the sports bar where it is celebrated as before the pandemic to the cafeteria that offers diners to take the temperature in the pan before sitting at the table (if someone prefers a tip thermometer, you also have to borrow, according to a sign at the entrance).
Planet Perk, Oshkosh. Waitress Kennedy Corpus cleans one of the tables.
Photo: Eva Tedesjö, Eva Tedesjö
Some of the residents of Oshkosh they are very concerned about protecting themselves and their peers from the virus. The owner of the Planet Perk cafeteria placed large plexiglass panels between the cafeteria tables, and all guests are offered plastic gloves and mouth guards at no additional cost.
– We do what we can, says waitress Kennedy Corpus.
There are several theories as to what accelerated the spread of the infection in Oshkosh during the fall. Perhaps it is all the young college students in town who have neglected social distancing. Maybe the crowds in bars and restaurants. Maybe everyone who refuses to wear mouth guards. Perhaps the disorder in politics and all the contradictory signals from those in power.
Governor Tony Evers he is one of all the state politicians who ended up on a collision course with Donald Trump to deal with the pandemic. Just a few days ago, he won a major battle against a conservative group, when a court approved his demand that people cover their noses and mouths.
It was a victory for the Democrats in the state. But at the party headquarters in Winnebago County, Oshkosh, campaign workers especially want to see more of the general guidelines.
– It is so clear that the entire United States must have the same strategy. We must have infection testing and monitoring everywhere. If Joe Biden becomes president, I think we will have a national oral protection requirement, says volunteer Pam Henkel.
The masks are this year’s best sellers at the Democrats’ campaign headquarters in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
Photo: Eva Tedesjö, Eva Tedesjö
He claims that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’ advertising masks are the best-selling among 2020 campaign material.
– We have had many more visits than during the 2016 election campaign, and we also get more money. We have visitors who say they voted for Trump four years ago, and that was their biggest mistake. So I think this time we’ll take Wisconsin, he says.
Pam Henkel himself has lost a relative in covid-19. She is convinced that Donald Trump will have to pay a political price for mitigating the risks of the disease.
– It is he who has made the policy of the virus. Sometimes I wonder if this has gone so far that we can no longer stop it, he says.
Democratic seat in Winnebago County, City of Oshkosh. Pam Henkel works as a coordinator and volunteer.
Photo: Eva Tedesjö, Eva Tedesjö
People’s strategies differ in Oshkosh. But the city regulations are really clear. At Oshkosh Seniors Center, many of the retiree contacts are handled online and employees are careful to wear mouth guards, wash their hands, and keep their distance. They avoid visits to private restaurants and meetings to protect their elders to the best of their ability.
And they worry that the infection is spreading so fast in the city.
– My experience is that our elders take it very seriously. But many also feel lonely and need someone to talk to, says Steph Carlin, who is the contact person for the Oshkosh Healthy Neighborhoods organization.
Together with the employees of the city of Oshkosh, is trying to find strategies to break the isolation. A lot happens online.
– It can be quite moving. We showed a man how Facebook works and his eyes welled up when he saw photos of one of the grandchildren, says Anne Schaefer, coordinator of the senior center.
Betty Ann Messner, 88, was the first to learn how to conduct a zoom meeting, now she will try to teach her peers so that they can live a social life, with social distancing.
– I don’t know how long I have to live. But I definitely don’t want to spend that time on a fan, he tells DN.
Steph Carlin from Oshkosh Healthy Neighborhoods speaks with 88-year-old Betty Ann Messner, who has learned to focus on the pandemic.
Photo: Eva Tedesjö, Eva Tedesjö
Since the conversation takes place via the screen, we must at least meet a Democrat in Oshkosh without a mouth guard. Betty Ann Messner has nothing left for Donald Trump or her handling of the coronavirus as president and patient.
– We have a leader who has no compassion or cares for anyone else. Lie and point your finger. I must say that I also lost respect for his doctor. I understand that not everything about the president can be revealed, but it is information that affects a lot of people, he says.
Unlike cultivators At Pumpkins Plus, you haven’t left the coronavirus protection to God. But she asks for two things every night. One is that there will never be a third world war and the other is that there will be no civil war in the United States.
– I think there is a great possibility that this is the case.
