Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers on Tuesday urged residents there to stay home, and to only go out for essential supplies.
The governor was responding to the jump in COVID-19 cases, which has set records four days in a row as more than 5,350 new cases have been added to the state’s total in the past week.
Department of Health Services-designee Andrea Palm says these increases are not due solely to more testing being done in the Badger state. She also urged people to stop hanging out with each other, saying that going to barbeques or having friends over for drinks is leading to “community spread” of COVID-19.
“It’s easy to let your attention slide, to accept that invitation to a barbeque, or to gather some friends for a drink,” Palm said. “But, again, this is what we know. We know that gatherings as simple as barbeques and bars can, and have, spread COVID-19. And we know that the virus goes beyond those first few people who are infected. An infection at a barbeque can easily be spread from attendees to their daycare provider. Or to their co-worker. Or other relatives. And the biggest danger is if just one of those people is vulnerable to severe illness or death.”
Palm says that it becomes increasingly difficult for local health officials to trace and “box in” the virus.
“It means that you are at risk,” Palm said. “But we can choose to help our communities safe. We need to work together again to flatten the curve and to stop the spread.”
There have been 37,906 confirmed cases since the crisis began in March, and there have been 826 deaths.
Also at Tuesday’s press conference, Evers said that the Wisconsin Supreme Court decision in May that threw out his “Safer at Home” order makes it nearly impossible for him, or Palm, to issue any statewide orders. He responded to questions on whether he would implement a statewide mask order, and said that he lacks the authority to do so and that if he tried, Republicans would challenge it in court.
Evers, who wore a mask during Tuesday’s press briefing, urged Wisconsin residents to stop traveling and to stop gathering. He said doing so now gives schools a better chance of opening in the fall.
“We need everyone to continue to do their part by staying safer at home whenever possible,” Evers said. “Practicing social distancing, and wearing a face mask whenever you go into public. Don’t get into small rooms with a whole bunch of people. Without a vaccine in sight, these are the best tools we have at this time to not only save lives, and hospitalizations, but also to ensure that our schools and workplaces and local communities can stay open.”
Evers said that he anticipates that schools will open in the fall, and that he was unsure if he had the authority to close schools as he did in the spring. That was before the Wisconsin Supreme Court made its ruling in May.
Palm says any gathering could potentially make the on-going “community spread” worse, due to asymptomatic people mingling with others and unknowingly passing on the virus.
“We need to double down on protecting our families and our communities,” Palm said. “It means staying home and limiting our trips to the essentials. Wash your hands frequently and practice physical distancing and wear a mask.”
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