Judge blocks Wisconsin indoor capacity limits
As COVID-19 continues to spread out of control in Wisconsin, a judge has now struck down the governor’s order limiting the number of people in bars and restaurants.
“With the pandemic, with the rioting, with just the way the economy is and everything else, there’s so many places that are so close to closing,” said Tim Gascoigne of Coin’s Sports Bar.
Gascoigne says his and other Kenosha bars were already suffering when Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers issued an order limiting taverns and restaurants to 25 percent capacity.
On Wednesday, a judge in Sawyer County issued a temporary restraining order after the Wisconsin Tavern League sued, saying the governor doesn’t have the authority to impose crowd limits.
“Do they do 25 percent in factories? At grocery stores? It just seems like they constantly keep saying it’s the bars and restaurants,” said Gascoigne.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Gov. Evers says, "This is a dangerous decision that leaves our state without a state wide effort to contain this virus. We will be challenging the decision."
The positivity rate in Wisconsin is approaching 10 percent, and more than 3,100 new cases were reported on Wednesday.
Hospitals are at capacity, and the state opened a 530 bed field hospital at the Wisconsin State Fairgrounds.
“Now I think in part because of fatigue, I think given that this has been going on for several months we have now gone away from those behaviors,” said Dr. Nasia Safdas of the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine.
Earlier this week, another judge upheld the governor’s mask mandate, but Wednesday’s ruling leaves most of the state without any social distancing requirements as hospitalizations continue to increase.