Posted on 09/23/2020 2:53:34 AM PDT by Brown Deer
With positive COVID-19 cases surging in college communities across the state, Gov. Tony Evers has extended the statewide mask mandate through late November.
Evers announced Tuesday the new mask mandate — along with his third public health emergency — in an effort to control the spread of COVID-19. Positive cases had begun to drop after Evers’ first mask mandate took effect in July but have been rising, primarily among 18- to 24-year-olds, since students returned to college campuses.
“We continue to learn more about this virus, but what we do know is that we are facing a new and dangerous phase of the COVID-19 pandemic here in Wisconsin,” Evers said in a statement. “We are seeing an alarming increase in cases across our state, especially on campus. We need folks to start taking this seriously, and young people especially — please stay home as much as you are able, skip heading to the bars, and wear a mask whenever you go out.”
The order, through Nov. 21, goes into effect immediately and remains in place for 60 days or until a superseding order is passed. Evers’ original order was set to expire Monday.
Under the order, everyone age 5 and older must wear a face covering when indoors or in any enclosed space open to the public, including outdoor bars and restaurants, public transit and outdoor park structures. The order does not apply to people in their private residences. Face coverings are strongly recommended in all other settings where people may come in contact with others, including outdoors when maintaining physical distance is not possible. A violation of the order would not bring any criminal penalties but could result in a $200 fine.
Extending the statewide mask mandate beyond next week may not do much to reduce the spread of COVID-19 at UW-Madison, which already has a mask mandate, as does Dane County. But the state mandate could help in counties without mandates, especially as people begin to spend more time indoors, said Julie Willems Van Dijk, deputy secretary for the state Department of Health Services.
“This mandate helps encourage good behavior with facial coverings as we move inside and assures a standard approach across our state,” Van Dijk said.
The state order supersedes any less-restrictive local mask order but allows local entities to enforce more restrictive rules.
Public Health Madison and Dane County spokeswoman Sarah Mattes said the state order doesn’t change anything in Dane County, where the existing local order is more restrictive.
GOP pushback State Republicans, who criticized Evers’ previous public health emergency and mask mandate, also pushed back against the latest order.
Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, described Evers’ latest order as “moot, illegal, invalid, and almost assuredly headed for litigation.”
“Governor Evers’ disregard for the state constitution and the role of the three branches of government is mind-boggling,” Fitzgerald said in a statement. “The Governor’s order is not valid and is not worth the paper it’s printed on.”
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, said in a statement Evers’ order is “obviously illegal.”
“There is already a court challenge and undoubtedly, there will be more,” Vos said in the statement. “No one branch of government can rule outside the letter of the law and go unchecked, even during a pandemic.”
However, neither Vos nor Fitzgerald called on the GOP-led Legislature to convene to strike down the order, as some state Republicans have demanded. Less than 24 hours after Evers’ first mask mandate, Fitzgerald said Senate Republicans had enough votes to overrule the order, but he never formally convened the Senate to vote on the matter.
Evers’ second public health emergency already faces a legal challenge from the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty (WILL), which alleges the governor cannot unilaterally extend a public health emergency or declare multiple emergencies in response to the same crisis. The group did not seek an immediate injunction to stop enforcement of the governor’s mask mandate.
“Governor Evers and his team believe the presence of COVID-19 supersedes the rule of law and our state constitution,” Rick Esenberg, WILL president and general counsel, said in a statement. “They are wrong. Letting this gross abuse of power stand is not an option.”
Officials with WILL said attorneys are reviewing the current order and need to discuss the matter with clients before any further decisions are made on the lawsuit.
However, Sen. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, said a court challenge could take weeks or months to reach a final solution and called on legislative leaders to act now.
“Assembly Speaker Robin Vos has enabled the continuing illegal conduct of Governor Evers in issuing repeated emergency declarations and a failed statewide mask mandate,” Nass said in a statement. “The Legislature has the constitutional and statutory authority to call an extraordinary session and put an end to the improper actions of the Governor.”
The Legislature has met only once since the pandemic began, to take up pandemic-related legislation back in April.
Last week, Evers hinted at the possibility of extending the statewide mask mandate, which he called an “important piece of the puzzle” to mitigate the spread of the disease.
The Evers administration’s stay-at-home order, issued by DHS Secretary Andrea Palm in March, was struck down on procedural grounds, with the state Supreme Court saying the Legislature needed to have a say in any long-term COVID-19 regulations.
After saying multiple times that the court’s order prevented him from implementing a mask order, Evers in July declared a new public health emergency and a separate order requiring masks.
Sue the m’fer all the way to the Supreme Court.
Obviously Trump is killing it in the real polls.
Damn rats are going come with just enough mail in votes to try to overturn the real votes on election night.
FILL THAT SEAT!
Before the Election.
Thanks for posting. Of course. ENEMIES domestic. Face - Words - DEEDS
That is just crazy. Everything is open here, there are no fines for not wearing masks. Restaurants and bars are packed. Regardless of all this “increase in cases” that we keep hearing about, we aren’t hearing about “deaths”, which is the main thing. This is equivalent to panicking over news of “50,000 people reported a tummy ache this week, and 1,000,000 reported a headache and/or backache this week, therefore we will lock down everything.” The people doing this are freaking insane.
Gutless legislature. The citizenry might have a chance in court if the legislature didn’t give Evers a blank check.
They’re not insane.
This was never about public health.
IF the problem is rising ON the campuses-—
APPLY the rules & extensions to the campuses!!!
it’s AIRBORNE, Americans. Are your GOOGLES...er GOGGLES on?
C’mon man! HOW DARE YOU, PGalt!
Exactly.
“This was never about public health.”
Post-of-the-day. Thanks, mewzilla.
HOW much $$$ is paid to each member of the Legislature???
They haven’t done any business since April???
How does that justify drawing a paycheck???
Slip sliding away..............they know it and fell it. It was a good run, felt like a supreme leader over the stupid masses. your nearing the end of days and your life as an insignificant loser will once again be real
Leftist, criminal democrats are drunk on power.
Buy weapons and ammo, folks.
JoMa
That could be said about a lot of so-called public servants most of the time.
So now WI joins WA and OR in extending the mask orders until AFTER the election.
Unlike the other states, which blatantly end on Nov. 4th, he disguised it a little.
FWIW, bet discovery would be very enlightening.
You realize we cannot tell what state this is until well into the post? The name of the publication is singularly generic.
It’s bogus to panic over cars among 18 to 24 year olds.
I’m sorry to say this but the president’s campaign and Republicans in general are not making a focused enough attack on the misbehavior of the Democrat party.
I live in a city with a major college. When the students began coming back last month, cases immediately went up. The 18-24 year old bracket makes up 95% of new cases. We also learned that they recover quickly. Right now, recoveries are outpacing new infections. If you’re healthy you have very little to worry about.
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