MADISON — Gov. Tony Evers today issued the following statement regarding the Supreme Court of Wisconsin’s ruling that puts the health and safety of Wisconsinites across the state at risk by ending Wisconsin’s Safer at Home order, effective immediately, and requiring the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) to go through the rulemaking process to be able to respond to an epidemic.
“Up until now, Wisconsin was in a pretty good place in our battle against COVID-19. We had reached almost all our gating criteria. We had opened up 14,000 small businesses across the state, putting 90,000 folks back to work, and that was because of the good work of Wisconsinites across our state who banded together, stayed home, and stayed safe,” said Gov. Evers. “Despite that good work, Republican legislators have convinced 4 justices to throw our state into chaos.
“We cannot let today’s ruling undo all the work we have done and all the sacrifices Wisconsinites have made over these past few months. We need everyone to continue doing their part to keep our families, our neighbors, and our communities safe by continuing to stay safer at home, practice social distancing, and limit travel, because folks, deadly viruses don’t wait around for politicians and bureaucrats to settle their differences or promulgate rules.
“This virus has killed more than 400 of our family members, friends, and neighbors and thousands more across our state are sick. I am disappointed in the decision today, but our top priority has been and will remain doing what we can and what we have to do to protect the health and safety of the people of our state. After months of unproductive posturing, I hope the folks in the Legislature are ready to do the same.”