Government responses
Schools
On March 10, the Osceola School District closed schools to sanitize the buildings and buses after a person who attended a regional sports tournament was found to be infected. [40] On March 12, Governor Tony Evers declared a State of Emergency. [41] The next day, he ordered the closure of all public and private K-12 schools in the state until at least April 5. [42]
Most schools in the University of Wisconsin System, including Madison [43] and Stout, [44] have cancelled all in-person classes through early April.
Mass gatherings
On March 16, Evers announced restrictions on the number of people that could be present at childcare facilities, limiting it to 10 staff and 50 children at the same time. [45]
On March 17, a statewide ban of all gatherings with more than 10 people was announced by the governor. [46]
In mid-June, Racine County judge Jon Fredrickson issued a temporary injunction against the city of Racine's "Forward Racine" order. The order limited certain businesses such as gyms, restaurants, and bowling alleys to a capacity of 25% or a maximum of ten persons. The plaintiff, David Yandell, claimed that the order jeopardized his business's ability to survive. [47]
On July 2, following a sustained high number of new cases, Dane County issued order #7 limiting outdoor gatherings to 25 people, indoor gatherings to 10 people, and indoor dining capacity to 25% for restaurants, as well as prohibiting indoor dining in bars, a space of particular concern to health officials. [19] [48]
In May 2021, the city of Milwaukee announced lifting restrictions effective June 15, 2021. Capacity limits were lifted for the Milwaukee Bucks, Milwaukee Brewers, festivals, and businesses. At the time of the announcement, the city experienced a rate of infection for the disease at 82 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people and a test positivity rate is 4 percent, with about 29.5 percent of the population fully vaccinated. [49] About two weeks later, the Milwaukee Bucks announced returning to full capacity for the remainder of the NBA playoffs. [50] After the Bucks won the NBA championship on July 20, [51] the city of Milwaukee experienced a surge in COVID-19 infections of nearly 500 persons which was a 155 percent rise in the infection rate following the celebration of the championship. The infection rate increase was attributed to possibly a result of the championship parade held for the team and the fact that about 65,000 people gathered in the Deer District (the area surrounding the arena where the Bucks play) during the championship game. [52]
Stay at home
On March 23, Evers announced closures of all non-essential businesses to be signed on Tuesday, March 24, and urged citizens to stay at home to reduce the spread of COVID-19. [53]
On April 16, the 'Safer At Home' order was extended to be in effect until May 26. [54]
On April 17, Racine County Sheriff Christopher Schmaling said he planned not to enforce the 'Safer At Home' order, stating constitutional rights of citizens as his reasoning. [55] His declaration is similar to concerns raised by four sheriffs in the state of Michigan. [56]
On April 21, the Wisconsin state legislature filed suit with the state supreme court, against the governor's 'Safer At Home' order calling the executive order an overreach of the executive branch's statutory powers. [57]
On April 24, Hartford Mayor Tim Michalak announced that businesses would be allowed to re-open on Monday April 27, despite the 'Safer-At-Home' order issued by Governor Evers. He directed the police department not to enforce the 'Safer-At-Home' order. [58]
On May 13, the Wisconsin Supreme Court struck down Governor Evers "Safer-At-Home" orders as unconstitutional. [59] On May 14 Mike Wiza, mayor of Stevens Point said they had still not received any guidance from the legislature, which made it "very, very difficult" for local law enforcement and the health department. The Governor announced on May 18 that the legislature didn't want any state level guidelines. [60] In the absence of a statewide legislative order, the decision left the task of imposing health restrictions to the local governments. [61] Dane County reissued the 'Safer-At-Home' orders nearly in full, and in Milwaukee County restrictions were put in place, including a mask mandate. [62] [63]
One week after the Supreme Court decision Wisconsin reported 528 new COVID-19 cases, the largest single day rise in new COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic. [64]
Primary elections
On March 27, Governor Evers asked the legislature to approve a plan to send every registered voter in the state an absentee ballot so they could vote in the Democratic and Republican primaries, scheduled for April 7, by mail. Republicans opposed the plan. In Green Bay a judge turned down a request to delay the election but other lawsuits move forward. [65] Authorities also refused to delay the election, despite the ban on gatherings with over ten persons, even though 111 jurisdictions did not have enough people to staff even a single polling place, and with 60% of all Wisconsin towns and cities were reporting staffing shortages. [66]
Epidemiologists and public health experts said that it was not possible to definitively determine the extent to which the virus spread among Wisconsin voters at polling places, due to a lack of testing and contact tracing; the difficulty of determining the location where an infected person acquired the virus; and asymptomatic transmission. [67]
Mask mandate
On July 30, Governor Evers declared a public health emergency and issued an emergency order requiring people to wear a face mask in public indoor spaces [68] Many cities and counties including Green Bay, Superior, Racine, Whitewater and Milwaukee and Dane Counties had already implemented mask mandates before the statewide order was issued. [69]
A lawsuit challenging the mandate was filed by the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty (WILL) on August 25. [70] The mask mandate was put in place as part of the public health emergency declared in July. [69] According to a poll of registered voters conducted by Marquette University, the majority of registered voters support the mandate. [71]
On September 22, as cases in the state continued to rise, the mask mandate was extended until November 21. The decision to extend the mandate was criticized by some members of the state legislature. [72]
A Wisconsin judge denied an injunction request from state Republicans on October 12. State Republicans filed the injunction seeking to prevent enforcement of the mask mandate, arguing that the governor had wrongfully declared a state of emergency more than once. The judge ruled that the governor had "broad discretion to act whenever conditions in the state constitute a public health emergency." [73]
Small business owners in Green Bay, one of the most severely affected cities, have said the economic future of local businesses depends on people wearing masks and following the social distancing guidelines. [74] Out of 10,430 potential Door County visitors returning surveys from May 14–18, 9,083 (87.1%) said they were willing to wear a mask, and 1,347 (12.9%) said they were not willing to wear a mask. [75]
The Wisconsin courts have had mixed responses to a lawsuit brought about by the Tavern League of Wisconsin (the trade association representing the state's bars), who sued to halt the order. After Governor Evers issued another order in October 2020 limiting the number of people allowed to gather in public locations, a Sawyer County judge (John M. Yackel) ordered a temporary restraining order halting the order. [76] A few days later, another judge, James Babler, from Barron County reinstated the order. [77] In September 2020, amid the coronavirus pandemic, WILL filed lawsuits to stop a face mask mandate in Wisconsin. [78] On November 18, Governor Evers issued orders extending those mandates through mid-January, 2021. [79]
