It only took a few hours for everything to change in Wisconsin, the American state that saw the State Supreme Court annul the governed orderr location to maintain mandatory confinement. The bars were filled with people without a mask, as if nothing was happening in terms of public health with the outbreak of covid-19. “We are the wild West,” said the dissatisfied Democratic governor of the state, now without the power to enact isolation measures.
On Wednesday night, in downtown Platteville, reports The Washington Post, Nick’s bar was full. The Hollies song “Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress” was playing and a bartender picked up the camera. In a broadcast on Twitter, the room was full of customers without a mask, huddled together. Some clapped, in a scene so joyful that they seemed to be celebrating the end of the worst pandemic in a century.. All over the state, identical scenes were recorded, with crowded bars, as shown by local TV’s.
45 minutes after the bars open in Wisconsin …. pic.twitter.com/xqaDlS6ajP
– Nick’s bar (@nicksonsec) May 14, 2020
But people like Governor Tony Evers (Democrat) know that it is not so and that the bar’s customers were just celebrating the apparent end of their power over the population, at least for now.
“We are the wild west,” Tony Evers told MSNBC on Wednesday night, reacting to the decision of the state Supreme Court and scenes of people partying in bars across Wisconsin. “There are no restrictions in the entire state of Wisconsin. There is nothing to get people to do anything but bring chaos.”
Shortly after the conservative majority of the court issued a decision, with the vote of 4 to 3 judges, invalidating the extension of the stay-at-home order issued by Evers’ state health chief, the Tavern League of Wisconsin, a bar association, instructed its members to be free to “Open Immediately!”
At the Iron Hog Saloon, in the city of Port Washington, drinks soon started to flow, but masks and social distance were lacking, WISN TV reported. The owner, Chad Arndt, said he had implemented more cleaning protocols and that, if people were uncomfortable, they didn’t have to go to the bar and respect it. “I hope you will respect my feelings, I want to go out and start resuming the economy,” he said.
New story on NPR: Wisconsin Bars Welcome Crowds After Court Strikes Down ‘Safer At Home’ Bans One bar posted an image of a crowd, along with the caption “45 minutes after the bars open in Wisconsin.”https://t.co/wP11m4MAMu
– Teaching Change Podcast (@teaching_change) May 14, 2020
For a customer, Gary Bertram, it is a simple decision. “If people want to quarantine, they quarantine. If you don’t want to be quarantined, don’t stay. Go out and do what you normally do,” he told local television.
It is not that simple. Public health officials have repeatedly warned that those who choose to ignore social detachment may end up spreading the disease to people who will not drink in bars, but only go, for example, to a grocery store.
Other bars that reopened tried to take more precautions, with tables away, employees forced to wear face masks and hand sanitizer available.
The Wisconsin Tavern League also encouraged bars to follow Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation’s reopening guidelines, which include forcing employees to wear masks, strengthening sanitary measures and keeping groups of customers five feet away from each other. The league’s executive director, Pete Madland, told Fox 11 that he liked the decision because the owners’ livelihoods were at stake.
It is a situation unlike any other in the United States, as the pandemic continues. But most of all, Governor Tony Evers fears that the court order will cause the one thing he was trying to prevent: more deaths.
Wisconsin has more than 10,900 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 421 deaths.
A conservative judge, Brian Hagedorn, joined the other two liberals in dissent over the majority vote that revoked the governor’s order. Judge Rebecca Dallet wrote: “This decision will be considered one of the most striking examples of judicial activism in the history of this court. And it will be the inhabitants of Wisconsin who will pay the price. “
Republicans wanted the state legislature to have a say in the drastic public health measures that the Evers administration required residents to follow. The Supreme Court agreed, justifying that an unelected state head of health should not have such a broad hold over millions of people.
But in Wisconsin’s political environment, it is not yet clear to what extent the Democratic government will work with the Republican majority to address public health, a concern that Evers shared on Wednesday night. He said the Republicans did not have a plan, but he would talk to them.
In the meantime, there have been counties and cities, such as Racine and the state’s largest city, Milwaukee, that have issued or extended their own confinement orders that still prohibit the reopening of bars and restaurants.
“Different municipalities are opening everything up. Other municipalities say, ‘No, we don’t want that to happen,'” said Tony Evers. “Suddenly, with 72 counties, this will be very confusing for people in the state.”
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