Wisconsin Is Flattening The Curve
Gov. Evers' Safer At Home Extension Saves Lives
Wisconsin is controlling the spread of COVID-19 because of Gov. Evers' leadership.
This year, Republican legislative leaders gaveled out the Assembly and Senate and went home in February for the year, well before the coronavirus hit Wisconsin. Last year they were in session only 14 days.
They refused Gov. Evers requests to assist him in dealing with the deadly pandemic for months, including when he asked for legislative assistance in purchasing necessary PPE for first responders and ventilators for Wisconsinites sick with COVID-19.
The legislature only reconvened to do their jobs when Gov. Evers demanded a special session in April. They gaveled in and gaveled out in 17 seconds.
Republicans forced an in-person election in Wisconsin which, to-date, has at least 52 known cases of COVID-19 which have been connected to the election. The Department of Health Services is still collecting data on how the virus impacted voters who were forced to stand in line for hours in Green Bay and Milwaukee in order to vote but to date 67 cases of COVID-19 have been tied to people who voted in person on election day.
Republicans again disappeared until days before Wisconsin was due to lose $300 million in federal aid.
Assembly Leader Robin Vos and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, both Republicans, waited until they had only a handful of days left to pass legislation aimed at providing relief for Wisconsinites hit hard by the virus or the ability to collect federal aid would have been lost.
The relief package was introduced by the Republican legislature a day before lawmakers took it up, leaving no time for input from the public.
Under more normal circumstances, such changes to the state's workers' compensation laws would have been vetted by the state Worker's Compensation Advisory Council and included input from employers, employee unions and other stakeholders.
Robin Vos and Scott Fitzgerald answered to corporate lobbyists by including language in the Wisconsin Coronavirus Relief Package that hurts our First Responders, according to state records.
The change, which was made after lawmakers already were on the floor in the state Assembly chamber last week, scaled back protections in the bill before them, requiring first responders infected with the virus to show they were exposed to someone with a confirmed case of the virus at work before they could receive workers' compensation.
Wisconsin's provision applies to law enforcement officers, firefighters, emergency medical staff and health care workers who care for coronavirus patients.
Advocates for first responders say in many cases that's an impossible standard to meet for people who must interact closely with the public to do their jobs and can become infected without knowing it for weeks.
For almost 2 years, Vos and Fitzgerald have also refused to confirm Dept. of Health Services Sec. Andrea Palm, who along with Gov. Evers has done the work to manage the state response to the pandemic.
Now those same Republicans have sued in court to force the re-opening of Wisconsin businesses just as Wisconsin is nearing the peak of the pandemic.
Republicans have offered NO solution or alternative to the Safer at Home order, just as they have been missing in action as Gov. Evers worked to help Wisconsinites throughout this health crisis.
Wisconsin’s pandemic laws give DHS broad powers to “close schools and forbid public gatherings” and “issue orders for guarding against the introduction of any communicable disease” and “authorize and implement all emergency measures necessary to control communicable disease.” Every other state has similar laws, which were passed in response to frequent outbreaks of communicable disease in the early 20th century.
Wisconsin is one of at least 42 states that has used these laws to quickly combat and contain COVID-19 with Safer at Home measures.
Wisconsin is controlling the spread and saving lives BECAUSE of the Safer at Home order put in place by Sec. Palm and Gov. Evers.
Here's a link where you can send Gov. Evers a thank you for working hard to keep Wisconsinites safe: https://evers.wi.gov/Pages/Connect.aspx
Sources:
https://www.wbay.com/content/news/52-positive-cases-tied-to-Wisconsin-spring-election-570016921.html