County Executive Parisi Statement: Ruling Suspending Governor's Efforts to Limit Spread of Covid-19

October 14, 2020
Ariana Vruwink, 608-267-8823
County Executive

Today, Dane County Executive Joe Parisi released the following statement regarding a judge’s ruling to suspend Governor Evers’ efforts to limit the spread of Covid-19:

"Timing is everything, and this latest attempt to sabotage scientifically proven strategies to slow the spread of this pandemic comes as Covid-19 is consuming Wisconsin. Our state is making every national 'worst' list right now for cases, deaths, and hospitalizations. In fact, yesterday was a record bad day for cases, and Dr. Fauci is regularly talking nationally about his concerns about what's happening in our state.

"Here in Dane County, our hospitalizations hit an all-time high yesterday (75) and after a brief plateau, cases are on an upward trajectory once again. To those who diminish this pandemic by wrongly comparing it to the flu, the data just doesn't support that. According to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, 183 people died from influenza in the 2019-2020 flu season. Yesterday, we passed 1,500 deaths in Wisconsin from Covid-19 in a much shorter time span. Covid is not the flu, and there's no indication having the flu causes long-term cardiac conditions either.

"Dane County's public health orders are not impacted by today's ruling. We will continue to advocate for what science says are the only tools available to prevent thousands of more deaths."