While Gov. Evers works to keep Wisconsinites healthy and safe and distribute vaccines across our state, Republicans continue their efforts to hinder our state’s response. Republicans haven’t taken COVID-19 seriously from the beginning, and they still aren’t now more than 280 days since they last sent a bill to the governor’s desk.

On background, Gov. Evers has asked for the very first bill passed by the Legislature this session to be a bill aiding our state’s response to this pandemic. Republicans told the Wisconsin Supreme Court last spring they were “drafting even now” such a plan. We’re 18 days into the legislative session, a bipartisan bill that received the governor’s support hasn’t been passed by the Assembly, and Republicans still haven’t sent a second COVID bill to the governor’s desk despite this virus having killed more than 5,600 Wisconsinites.

You’ll recall the last time the MU Law Poll asked about support for face coverings in October 2020: “In October, 72% agree that masks should be required in public places, while 26% disagree with requiring masks. In August, 69% supported a mask requirement and 29% were opposed,” and “Support for a mask requirement exceeds 60% in all regions of the state, as shown in Table 6 for August and October polls.” The governor’s actions not only have broad public support, they continue to be supported by science and the advice of public health experts. Here are the current CDC guidelines, last updated under the Trump Administration.

Ending the public health emergency would eliminate one of the few tools left the state has to mitigate the spread of the virus that is killing our friends, families, and fellow Wisconsinites while we work to distribute the vaccine across our state.

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