Past email updates can be found HERE
Badger Bounce Back Plan
Today, Governor Evers announced Wisconsin's plan to combat the COVID-19 virus and reopen the state — the Badger Bounce Back plan.
On April 16, 2020, the White House issued the Guidelines for Opening up America Again which includes the Federal Gating Criteria and Core State Preparedness Responsibilities that these metrics for Wisconsin are based on. Those guidelines can be found HERE.
This plan outlines the steps needed to decrease COVID-19 cases and increase capacity in our healthcare system to ensure a phased reopening of businesses in Wisconsin that is safe, will keep Wisconsinites healthy, and get them back to work.
The state will be working to:
- Increase access to more testing and expand lab capacity with the goal that every Wisconsinite with symptoms can get a test
- Expand contact tracing and more aggressively tracking the spread with the goal of every Wisconsinite who tests positive being interviewed within 24 hours of receiving their test results and their contacts being interviewed within 48 hours of test results
- Pursue every avenue to grow Wisconsin’s supply of personal protective equipment (PPE) for healthcare and public safety entities to conduct COVID-19 testing, patient care, and public safety work
- Bolster healthcare system capacity where patients can be treated without crisis care and there are more robust testing programs in place for at-risk healthcare workers.
For more information on the Badger Bounce Back Plan, click HERE.
Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation is working on "Wisconsin Ready", which will lay the groundwork to get Wisconsin businesses back on their feet and workers back to work as soon as it is safe to do so. For more information on Wisconsin Ready, click HERE.
Once we reduce the transmission of COVID-19 and meet the Wisconsin Gating Criteria and Core Responsibilities, we can begin to allow people to interact, and more importantly get Wisconsinites back to work, and move into the different "phases". For more information on the Gating Criteria and Core Responsibilities, and the phases of reopening, click HERE.
WISCONSIN’S GATING CRITERIA:
- SYMPTOMS: Downward trajectory of influenza-like illnesses (ILI) reported within a 14-day period AND
downward trajectory of COVID-19-like syndromic cases reported within a 14-day period
- CASES: Downward trajectory of positive tests as a percent of total tests within a 14-day period
- HOSPITALS: Treat all patients without crisis care AND Robust testing programs in place for at-risk healthcare workers, with decreasing numbers of infected healthcare workers
CORE STATE RESPONSIBILITIES - TEST, TRACE, & TRACK:
- TESTING: Every Wisconsin resident who has symptoms of COVID-19 can get a lab test. Results will be
reported to the patient and state or local public health within 48 hours of collection. To achieve this, our
goal is 85,000 tests/week or approximately 12,000 tests/day.
- TRACING: Testing without contact tracing will not result in controlling the spread of the virus. In order to
reopen Wisconsin, we need to be sure that everyone who can transmit the virus (whether because they
are infected or exposed) understands their responsibility to stay home. We will increase the state’s contact
tracing efforts by hiring 1,000 additional staff to make sure everyone is contacted and has what they need to safely isolate and quarantine.
- TRACKING: Building on systems used to track influenza, we will track the spread of the disease and report
on the Wisconsin Gating Criteria and other related metrics to keep everyone informed about how we are doing.
As we continue to be Safer at Home, we must also support businesses and employees in innovative ways that will not sacrifice our progress in fighting the spread of COVID-19. I am watching carefully the health care capacity, widespread testing, contact tracing, and isolation capacity in the state, and the availability of personal protective equipment for healthcare workers, first responders, and other frontline workers. The lives and livelihoods of my constituents remains my number one priority.
COVID-19 CASES
Statewide
4,499 confirmed cases
1,211 hospitalizations (27% of cases)
46,603 negative test results
230 devastating deaths
14th District Counties
Milwaukee - 2,191 confirmed cases
Waukesha - 269 confirmed cases
For daily updated information on COVID-19 in Wisconsin, visit the DHS website here.
Forward together,