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The Wisconsin state Assembly is scheduled to take up a resolution this morning to end the state's mask mandate -- the only statewide mitigation effort in place.
The plan to eliminate Wisconsin's mask requirement will likely cut off nearly $50 million in food assistance to low-income people and those thrown out of work during the coronavirus pandemic.
A COVID-19 package Congress passed last year gave states additional funding for food stamps if they have emergency health orders in place. Ending the state emergency order would prevent nearly 243,000 households from collecting $49.3 million in assistance.
. @plremington tells me ending the mask mandate will send a message that the effectiveness of wearing face masks is debatable and worries more people will stop wearing them.
"The analogy would be as your ship is sinking, to debate whose responsibility it is to bail out the water and as you’re debating, your ship sinks," he said.
"That may be an important maritime rule … but it’s not something you want to be debating when the ship is sinking — it’s all hands on deck."
Republicans argue Evers for months has lacked the authority to impose a mask requirement. State law gives governors the power to issue health emergency orders for up to 60 days unless lawmakers approve making them longer.
With Republican lawmakers unwilling to extend his orders, Evers has issued a series of them over the last year, arguing each new order restarts the 60-day clock.
Republicans argue those orders are invalid because Evers is trying to create an emergency declaration that has no foreseeable end date. Evers has been sued over the issue and it is now before the state Supreme Court.
New cases in Wisconsin are at about the level they were in September, substantially lower than the state's peak in November. But the state faces the specter of new strains of the virus.
The U.K. strain of the virus, which spreads more easily, will likely be the dominant strain in Wisconsin within two months, according to Remington.
The number of organizations lobbying on the resolution to end the mandate has grown to 40 -- all opposed. Organizations representing schools are now weighing in.
Waukesha School District Deputy Superintendent Joe Koch said repealing the mask mandate now doesn't make sense to him and could put at risk his students and staff, who have been in the classroom the entire school year.
He said masks, which are mandated in schools under the governor's order, have been essential in keeping transmission of the virus relatively low and district schools open this year.
"It's interesting that this would be an issue of focus," he said. "We've got a lot of science that shows that masks work and it seems counterintuitive that in an environment where masks have proven effective ... that we would want to go away from that right now."
State org of retired eds said: "Overturning the mask order will slow down the cause of getting all Wisconsin school children back in school for in-person instruction. In its most recent report, the CDC recommended that in-person learning is possible during the pandemic. Keep it."
