With the holiday season approaching, and coronavirus cases steadily rising, Dane County officials are asking residents to take individual responsibility to reduce the spread of Covid-19.
Local officials are also calling for the state legislature to reconvene to create a comprehensive state-wide plan for the pandemic.
Outside the Alliant Energy Center exhibition hall today, Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway emphasized the importance of individual action in combatting the pandemic.
“It won’t be solved by an election, it won’t be solved by government alone, it won’t be solved by healthcare alone,” Mayor Rhodes-Conway says.
Mayor Rhodes-Conway says Dane County travel data shows traffic has steadily increased since dropping by more than 50% during the safer-at-home order.
“We have morning and afternoon rush hour again. Traffic on East Washington Ave is 90% of normal,” Mayor Rhodes-Conway says, “But these are not normal times.”
Dane County Executive Joe Parisi criticized the inaction of state legislators, and says that a comprehensive state-wide plan is critical to reducing covid hospitalization rates.
“Our current situation, in which people are literally dying as we speak here today, while state leaders are not even speaking to one another is just simply unacceptable,” Parisi says.
Parisi recommends residents avoid large family gatherings for Thanksgiving. According to Public Health Madison and Dane County Director Janel Heinrich, a gathering of 10 people in Dane County has a 32% chance of including an infected individual, 62% in a group of 25 people, and over 80% in a group of 50.
Although Parisi voiced optimism about a potential vaccine in the coming year, he warns that the county is facing challenging times ahead.
“We really just need people to double-down for the next couple of months,” Parisi says.
