"Parisi: Two Week Report Since End of 'Safer at Home' Shows Coronavirus Spreading Statewide; Calls on State Leaders to Come Together and Act"

May 28, 2020
Ariana Vruwink, 608-267-8823

Positive COVID-19 Cases Up 52% in Wisconsin Since Supreme Court Ruling, 28% Increase in State Deaths Since May 13th

Dane County Executive Joe Parisi today called on state leaders to revisit how Wisconsin can best come together to confront the COVID-19 virus that is increasingly affecting families across the state. His comments come after a review of state data shows positive cases and deaths continue to rapidly increase. In fact, the two-week anniversary of the State Supreme Court's ruling in favor of the legislature marked Wisconsin's biggest one day increase in COVID-19 deaths since the outbreak began.

“Leaders of the state legislature brought legal action that effectively ended state measures designed to protect public health,” Parisi said. “Now two weeks removed we see more people are sick, hospitalized and passing away from COVID-19. Those who wanted something different than Safer at Home need to be part of a much-needed solution and tell us what they can support to help slow the spread of this. Right now, sickness and sadness are filling the existing voids of legislative leadership,” Parisi added.

Parisi noted on Wednesday, May 13th, the day the Wisconsin Supreme Court immediately struck down the "Governor's Safer at Home," there were 10,902 residents in the state who had tested positive for COVID-19 and 421 deaths. Two weeks later—a period in which all state public restrictions were eliminated—Wisconsin (as of Wednesday, May 27th) had 16,617 cases and 542 deaths. That's a nearly 52% increase in Wisconsinites with COVID-19 and almost 28% spike in deaths in just 14 days. In just two months, more state residents have died from COVID-19 than passed away in Wisconsin car crashes in all of last year.

“What was lost in the political debate about when and how to re-open is the fact we are in the midst of an unprecedented pandemic where if we lose focus on why we had orders in the first place, people will needlessly suffer,” Parisi said. “Our state needs a vision and a path forward. Silence sends the unintended message that it's ok for lots of people to fall ill and surrenders all of us to the randomness of an unpredictable, mutating dangerous virus. I know that's not who we are as a state and I respectfully ask leaders of the legislature to step forward and help craft a plan that slows the rapidly accelerating spread of COVID-19. If we don't act quickly, this virus will spread into all parts of Wisconsin—rural and urban—and do further harm to not only our health and well-being, but also our economy,” Parisi concluded.