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.
The first three words in the headline are “Gov. Tony Evers”.
Cases surge despite the mask orders. Hmmm.... Are kids in colleges forced to get tested? I would say that’s an invasion of privacy. If I were in college I would not get tested.
we aren’t hearing about “deaths”, which is the main thing.
—
Hospitalizations are the real number to keep aware of, and most of those are only for a day (overnight) or two. Deaths can be attributed to many causes (guy tested positive for the virus, but didn’t survive the 50 fall while taking a selfie on a cliff)
“president’s campaign and Republicans in general are not making a focused enough attack on the misbehavior of the Democrat party.”
You’re right. There’s a lot of focus on what was done the last four years. They have to get nasty about RAT corruption happening NOW.
The report about the Bidens that just came out shows “criminal” issues with Hunter Biden, and that everybody knew. Maybe that’s the real reason they chose Biden as candidate. Being a candidate protected Hillary from criminal prosecution, so why not do the same with Joe?
If he goes down, he’ll take others with him, and they know it. Too much financial interaction between China and most people in the deep state, House, and Senate.
Pelosi can go to a hair salon without a mask / no social distancing..
In San Francisco, gyms in government buildings are open while private gyms are closed and going out of business.
I had to read it twice before I saw a reference to UW-Madison to know what state. Now I know what state, I have to read it again to understand the point of the post.
North Carolina Joins Michigan and Pennsylvania – Will Accept Late Ballots For 9 Days After Election and Ballot Harvesting
Count ALL ballots postmarked by Election Day and received by 11/12 – a whopping 9 days after the election!
Allow voters to correct their rejected mail ballots
Establish ballot drop-off stations (ballot harvesting)
notice they completely stopped talking about deatchs - now just ‘cases’
That’s also why distancing won’t work, it’s all psychological conditioning.
A normal person would just close down college campuses, not make mandates for people that don't have issues.
And that doesn’t tell which State. We’ve been bombarded with stories about States and Governor’s. Hard to keep track.
There is a recall petition for Evers. Sign the petition.
It’s very obvious to most people.
“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.
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.
Masks do reduce facial recognition capabilities employed by government agencies and their contractors/allies.
The government is the biggest threat to liberty. The agencies and bureaucracies functions independently of the constitution and the individuals that run them oppose constitutional and conservative views.
ALL LIES. False positives. Designed to help DEMONRATS in the election.
The number of new cases is a function of testing not an indication of danger. What is the death rate and the rate of hospitalization...these are the only indicators of consequence. The mask orders are creating open dissent. I have seen many wearing masks that say “This mask is as worthless as our governor.” People see this COVID fear mongering as political and are rebelling
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.