A new Executive Order signed by Department of Health Services Secretary Designee Andrea Palm will limit public gatherings in Wisconsin to 25% capacity starting Thursday, October 8, 2020.
Dr. John Raymond, President and CEO of Froedert and the Medical College of Wisconsin, tells WTMJ something needed to be done do slow the spread of COVID-19 in the state.
“We are surging now in 6 of the 7 regions in the state and the disease has the potential to get out of control, so anything we can do to help people manage their own personal behavior is probably a reasonable thing to do,” Raymond said on Wisconsin’s Afternoon News.
“But again, I think all of us would prefer that people could exhibit the individual discipline we need to get the pandemic under control,” Raymond said.
But Tim Sheehy, President of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce, tells WTMJ the one-size-fits-all approach is bad for businesses in the city.
“I think the Governor’s orders were well intentioned, but for metro Milwaukee it’s just a very blunt instrument that knocks down too many business establishments that have gone to great lengths to develop a comprehensive safety plan that’s been approved by the health department,” Sheehy told Wisconsin’s Afternoon News.
“It’s going to decimate the restaurants that have been able to open and get plans in place,” Sheehy said.
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said on Tuesday that between 350 and 400 businesses have had their reopening plans approved by the city, but now they’re not sure if the Executive Order will negate those plans.
“I read where it said local government could have stricter rules, but it did not say anything about different rules that might be interpreted more loosely,” Mayor Barrett said about the Executive Order.
Mayor Barrett said the city attorney was taking a look at the Executive Order and that more details should be available in the next few days.
Both Dr. John Raymond and Tim Sheehy were guests on Wisconsin’s Afternoon News.
