Gov Evers Modifies Safer at Home Order and New Testing Option

The Governor has announced a new order, which modifies the previous emergency safer at home order. It's a minor change, but a step towards more businesses re-opening. Not re-opening yet are businesses like nail and hair salons, and restaurants and bars. 

The State has also added a community COVID-19 testing site in Dane County. More details below.

MADISON -- Gov. Tony Evers today announced another turn of the dial on Safer at Home to add even more opportunities for Wisconsin businesses to get back to work in a safe and responsible way.

Emergency Order #36, signed today by Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) Secretary-designee Andrea Palm, allows all standalone or strip-mall based retail stores to offer in-person shopping for up to five customers at a time while maintaining required social distancing practices. Additionally, the Emergency Order signed today allows drive-in theaters to operate with some restrictions. All businesses must continue to follow all safety precautions and guidelines as outlined in the Safer at Home order. 

"In addition to added flexibilities and steps we have already taken for businesses, this is another disciplined turn of the dial that will allow Wisconsin's business owners to safely get back to work and Wisconsin consumers to support their favorite local spots," said Gov. Evers. "Both customers and workers need to be confident in their safety, so we need everyone to be diligent in following best safety practices so we can continue to move our state forward while keeping our neighbors, families, and communities safe and healthy." 

Today's order builds upon the Safer at Home order and the last turn of the dial through Emergency Order #34, which together allowed golf courses to operate, aesthetic and optional lawn and construction services provided by a single employee, curbside pick-up for public libraries, and every business to provide deliveries, mailings, and curbside pick-up and drop-off services.

Emergency Order #36 is available here and goes into effect immediately. If you have questions regarding Emergency Order #36, please review the frequently asked questions document available here. 

In addition to the requirements outlined above, all essential and nonessential businesses must review and consider the Wisconsin Department of Economic Development guidelines on safe business practices, available here.

Beginning today, May 11, 2020, the Wisconsin National Guard opened a Dane County community testing site for COVID-19 (novel coronavirus).

Free, drive-thru and walk-up testing is available to all residents. No appointment is necessary. Depending on utilization, the testing site will be open until further notice. The testing will be conducted in the New Holland Pavilion at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison.  It is open Monday-Saturday, 8:00am – 4:00pm. If you drive up, you will remain in your car the entire time. Using the Exact Sciences test, Wisconsin National Guard staff will collect specimens.

The community testing site is available to all residents.

The test is not an antibody test and does not indicate if someone has had COVID-19 in the past. Results are expected within 3-5 days.

"One of our goals is for every Dane County resident who has symptoms of COVID-19 and those who provide essential services to have access to testing. We also want those who don't have insurance or who lack access to health care to know they can be tested and we are working to ensure they can receive the support and health care they need," said Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway.?

"Our healthcare system partners have tested thousands of Dane County residents, but because of supply shortages, we know many people with mild systems were told to isolate at home and assume they have COVID-19, without a confirmatory test," said Janel Heinrich, Director of Public Health Madison & Dane County. 

"A community test site combined with more capacity in health care to test people with mild symptoms will provide us with a more accurate understanding of community spread. We have also been scaling up our capacity for contact tracing at Public Health Madison & Dane County and are ready to follow-up with more individuals who may test positive for COVID-19 to contain community spread," continued Heinrich.

Increased testing capacity is one of the criteria outlined in Wisconsin's Badger Bounce Back plan PDF  for the phased re-opening of Wisconsin.  Fewer cases as a percentage of all tests over 14 days is another criterion in the plan, but because we are testing more people in Dane County, we expect our case counts to increase over the next few weeks. This does not mean spread of the virus has gotten worse in Dane County.

"In addition to community testing, we are working to ensure adequate personal protective equipment, health care capacity, and contact tracing infrastructure in Dane County. These strategies together put us on a path to reopening Dane County as soon as possible," said County Executive Parisi.

For more information and answers to questions about the community testing site, visit publichealthmdc.com/coronavirustesting.