727 new cases of Covid-19 were confirmed today, bringing the total cases to 77,856. 1,146 Wisconsinites have died since the pandemic began.
Today, Governor Tony Evers and Wisconsin health officials held a press conference to warn of another strain on testing capacity: flu season.
Governor Tony Evers accused the Republican-led legislature of worsening a public health crisis after a string of challenges to his public health orders.
“From Safer-At-Home to the April election, Republicans have been dedicated to taking our efforts to keep people healthy and safe to court, and this one’s no different,” Evers said.
Last week, the conservative legal group Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, or WILL, filed a lawsuit against Evers’ second public-health emergency declaration implementing a mask mandate, arguing that the Governor overstepped his authority.
Rick Esenberg, the president of WILL, told W-O-R-T last week that; “That is contrary to the law, it’s contrary to the state constitution, and although we waited a while to see whether the legislature would act-apparently they are not going to-we believe that it’s important for someone to say, look, this is not what our law permits. However you feel about the COVID pandemic, however you feel about a mask mandate, this is not the way in which this is supposed to be done.”
According to Secretary-Designee Andrea Palm today, testing has dropped over the last several weeks across the nation, including Wisconsin.
Dr. Ryan Westergaard, Chief Medical Officer of the Bureau of Communicable Diseases, says that the state’s testing capacity could again be strained by the upcoming winter flu season.
“As Secretary Palm mentioned, we have an ongoing need to continue to scale up, more testing capacity and different types of tests to make sure that we continue to have enough to meet the demand over the coming fall and winter,” says Westergaard.
Palm adds that residents can help reduce the strain on covid-19 testing.
“The important public health plug here is get a flu shot,” Palm says.
To schedule a flu shot, residents can call Public Health Madison and Dane County, or go to their local pharmacy.
