The Covid-19 pandemic has taken a huge toll across America, and public health experts say a much larger surge in infections and deaths is likely this fall if people don’t take the threat more seriously. Considering that other developed nations have done a far better job of suppressing the disease, it should be obvious to federal and state policymakers that the time has come for them to work together and heed the advice of health experts regarding how to stop this increasingly catastrophic public health crisis. 

Here in Wisconsin, state legislators and the Governor need to establish processes for responding quickly when the pandemic worsens, because unfortunately, the legislature has created numerous roadblocks that preclude the sorts of rapid responses that may be needed in the months ahead. 

For starters, legislators need to work with the Governor to send a clear message that the Coronavirus is a threat in every corner of the state and masks are an extremely important part of the solution. Wearing masks and maintaining social distancing are the simplest and least obtrusive ways for us to reduce the threat to seniors, people with preexisting health conditions, and essential workers, and to make it possible to avoid much more problematic restrictions on social and commercial interactions.  

The pandemic is much worse now than it was about three months ago when the Wisconsin Supreme Court struck down the Department of Health Services’ stay-at-home order. Since that May 13^th ruling, we’ve seen the following changes in Wisconsin:

• The seven-day average of Covid-19 cases has increased three-fold. 
• The total number of Covid-19 deaths has increased by about 140%.
• Legislators can no longer argue that the disease is not a problem in rural areas; almost all the counties are now classified as having “high” rates of infection.
• Many schools have decided not to reopen in the coming weeks, and many others are reconsidering their plans to have students return to classrooms. 

One thing that hasn’t changed is that the virus disproportionately affects people of color. The following graph illustrates the sharply higher toll of the disease for Blacks and Hispanics in Wisconsin.  

Although the disparate impact of the disease isn’t new, something that has hopefully changed since mid-May is public understanding of and concern about the structural racism that puts people of color at much greater risk from the disease. (Perhaps now, a legislator or Supreme Court Justice won’t be able to cavalierly dismiss the threat of the disease by making an erroneous and insensitive observation that it only affects meatpackers or immigrants.)

Wearing a mask is the least that each of us can do to slow the spread of the virus and thereby reduce the risk of death for the most vulnerable Wisconsinites. People generally understand that, and a recent Marquette poll found that Wisconsinites support the state mask requirement by a margin of 69% to 29%. That’s because they understand not only that wearing masks is effective, but also that making it voluntary is not enough. 

What people especially want during this public health emergency is strong and capable leadership. Unfortunately, they haven’t seen that from the President or the Wisconsin Legislature. In fact, not only have Republican legislators in Wisconsin failed to show any leadership in combatting the virus, they have repeatedly taken actions to tie the Governor’s hand and block the emergency orders he has issued. 

More than 30 other states have statewide mask requirements, which have generally been imposed by executive orders.  But Wisconsin’s Governor has less authority than most others, thanks in part to the Court ruling in mid-May blocking the stay-at-home order, and more importantly because of broad restrictions on his authority imposed by the Legislature. A few weeks after Evers was elected, Republican legislators convened a “lame duck” session and quickly pushed through a sweeping bill that sharply reduced the authority of the executive branch. 

Because of the restrictions on the authority of the Governor and state agencies, coupled with the Legislature’s reluctance to pass legislation during the pandemic, Wisconsin has been much slower to act than most other states. That problem is illustrated by the following bar graph, which shows how much longer it took in Wisconsin, compared to other states, to respond after the Trump Administration created a fast-track process for approving waivers giving states the ability to adapt their Medicaid programs to the challenges posed by the pandemic.  

Three-fifths of states submitted waivers in 14 days or less, but it took Wisconsin 38 days to submit its waiver because of the legislative approval process. The fact that we were the second slowest state to formulate and submit a plan for making Medicaid adjustments back in March does not bode well for our capacity to approve and implement policy measures responding to a larger wave of Covid-19 cases likely coming this autumn. 

Over the last week or two, the number of positive Covid-19 tests has come down a little bit in Wisconsin, but it remains dangerously high in almost all counties. If colder fall weather and the reopening of schools and businesses trigger another surge in cases – building upon the much higher level that we now have – the human and economic toll could be calamitous. A statewide mask order reduces the danger of that sort of explosion of the virus, but doesn’t eliminate the risk. 

The Legislature needs to support the Governor’s efforts to get the pandemic under control in our state. Legislators should not only support the current mask order, they should show that they can put aside partisan sniping and cooperate with the Governor in developing evidence-based policies that can be quickly implemented if there’s a large surge in cases. 

Republican legislators have insisted upon having the authority to block the Governor’s actions and shape the state’s responses during the emergency. But to date they have only shown an interest in obstructing his policies and not a willingness to take proactive actions to get the pandemic under control.  

Unless the Legislature and the Governor put aside partisan politics and work together on a process enabling implementation of emergency measures, our state is likely to be one of the least prepared to respond to an upsurge of infections and deaths.