The Sophie Beaumont building in downtown Green Bay is home the Brown County Department of Health and Human Services. (WTAQ/Casey Nelson)
BROWN COUNTY, WI (WTAQ) – Businesses in Wisconsin can once again operate at full capacity, for now, after a judge filed an injunction blocking the governor’s order limiting occupancy to 25-percent.
The Tavern League lawsuit has temporarily blocked the statewide capacity limit, but does not supersede any local limits that may be in place. But at least for now, Brown County won’t be taking any action.
“Everyone was kind of anticipating that there would probably be some type of action that would take place,” said County Executive Troy Streckenbach. “At this point in time, it’s with our Corp Counsel. We’re waiting for them to give us advice. This just happened, so from that standpoint we’re just going to wait and see what the counsel advises…As of right now, Brown County is not in the process of making those determinations. So we’re waiting to see what happens with the appellate court.”
Streckenbach points out that Dane and Milwaukee counties could implement their own restrictions, but due to their populations – jurisdictional rules are a bit different than what Brown County would be able to do.
But just because an injunction has blocked the governor’s emergency order doesn’t mean the pandemic is suddenly over, Streckenbach says.
“Nothing’s changed. Social distance. Wear a mask. Wash your hands. That’s been the message since day one. And if you’re an individual who has symptoms – stay home!” Streckenbach said. “You guys, this is not rocket science. This is essentially us trying to keep our public safe…we’re all starting to have individuals in our own little circles who have been impacted by COVID.”
The county released a series of proclamations last week addressing the mental health impact of the pandemic, expressing the need for people to reach out to one another to make sure everyone is doing okay.
Streckenbach says he understands how difficult things have been, but argues that everyone needs to stop working in opposite directions on the issue.
“Do our part. Let’s get through this. We all want this over. I want my kids back in school…We all know that our economy is suffering, we all want to get back to a normal life,” Streckenbach told WTAQ News. “It’s going to happen by us working together, all taking our own initiative to make it happen. So from that standpoint, wash your hands, wear a mask, and social distance. It’s simple.”
The statewide mask mandate is still in place. That is scheduled to expire in late November.
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