MADISON, WI (WTAQ) – The Safer at Home order in Wisconsin is set to expire on April 24th – but it’s unclear if that will truly be the final day, or how the process of reopening the state will work.
“The science is what drives decision making in this process. Science will determine what reopening looks like and when that will happen,” says Governor Tony Evers.
Once the state decides to end the Safer at Home order – it likely won’t be a mad rush to the bars and a party in the streets.
“When that happens, it’s unlikely that it’s going to be – ok, today everybody’s home – tomorrow, everybody’s going back to work,” Evers says, “As we get closer to a point where we feel comfortable relaxing some of the requirements, we will. And we’ll be working with the business community to make that happen.”
But while state officials continue to release numbers and follow the information they are given – some lawmakers are challenging the order. Some GOP lawmakers accuse Department of Health Services Secretary designee Andrea Palm of “promoting excessive levels of fear,” and say the state could plan to extend the Safer at Home order and restrictions for another six months.
“I have never had a conversation with them in which I’ve said the Safer at Home order would last six months,” Palm says, “I would certainly not suggest that we want to stay in a position of Safer at Home for six months if we can do other things that are more surgical and less restrictive.”
Palm did explain that something has to be done to manage the situation until a medical solution can be found – and that clinical trials currently underway are at least six months out from introducing effective results.
“Absent a vaccine or other effective medical intervention, we are going to continue to have to manage this epidemic,” Palm says, “Until we can medically treat this, the tools we have are physical distancing and the kind of mass gathering restrictions and other things we have done.”
