Dear Legislators
I am writing to appeal to you to get the Republican
leadership in Wisconsin to cooperate with Governor Evers on finding a way to
end COVID-19—even if that means ordering Wisconsin residents to wear masks in
all public settings and temporarily shutting down businesses, churches, and
other organizations again.
It is clear from the public health data that Wisconsin is on
the cusp of tipping over into an outbreak of COVID that resembles the
situations in Florida, Arizona, and Texas, which have become dire in the past
week. Cases of COVID are steadily increasing, and they have been since
Wisconsin reopened after the state supreme court decision setting aside the
governor’s Safer at Home order. If this continues unchecked, we will soon
arrive at the point where our hospitals are overwhelmed and cannot provide
adequate treatment either to COVID patients or to people with other health
emergencies.
My family and I have spent the past four months locked down
at home, going out only for food and medicine, public service, and a tiny bit
of outdoor recreation. We wear masks everywhere, even walking around our low-density
neighborhood. Although my gym has reopened, I have not gone back to it. We are
trying to model responsible behavior for our children as well as to protect our
neighbors in case we are infected unawares. Even though the Safer at Home order
was no longer in effect, it was evident that the key to beating the virus is to
drastically reduce the number of potential transmissions.
But my family simply cannot do this alone. My children want
to go back to school in the fall. They will not be able to do so unless the pandemic
is under control. It was the right decision for schools to shut down in March
with only a few cases circulating in Wisconsin, and it would be the height of
recklessness to reopen them in September if the caseload is still growing—teachers
and students will die and suffer lifelong effects of illness if schools are
reopened too early. It is clear from worldwide evidence that the only situation
that will allow safe reopening of schools is the virus is no longer in wide
circulation in our communities. The only way to get that result six weeks from
now is to get Wisconsin residents to stay home now and wear masks when they go out. And given the state of
politics in Wisconsin, only the Republican leadership can make these things
happen.
Please do the right thing for the people of Wisconsin, step
up to promote sensible and mandatory public health measures, and turn the
spread of COVID around.
Sincerely
Amanda Seligman
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