% >> This week, Governor Tony
% Evers' administration gave up
% the quest for any new statewide
% emergency rules to manage
% COVID-19 in Wisconsin.
% Evers says Republicans
% emboldened by a state Supreme
% Court decision erasing his stay
% at home order would never have
% allowed any such restrictions.
% I talked with Governor Evers
% earlier today, as we head into
% this holiday weekend.
% And, Governor, thanks very
% much for joining us.
% >> Thanks, Frederica.
% How are you today? Good?
% >> I'm very well, and you?
% >> It's good, everything's good.
% >> Why earlier this week
% in really what seemed
% like a rather sudden move
% did you withdraw your
% Coronavirus rule plan?
% >> Well, there's only 24 hours
% in a day and all of us are
% focused on important things like
% getting some of this care money
% out to farmers
% and small business people and
% the Republicans made it clear
% and it wasn't like a fight.
% It was a clear that they didn't
% want to do anything that
% would restrict, do anything
% about restricting anything
% and they wanted--
% They didn't want
% a statewide plan.
% They wanted a local plan.
% So, instead of fighting upstream
% against something that
% was just never going to happen,
% we're going to be continuing to
% focus on the things that
% are important like testing
% and tracing and getting the
% right equipment, getting money
% out to farmers, and making sure
% that our small businesses
% get some get some resources.
% That's what we need to focus on.
% And so, it just wasn't worth
% the time.
% >> Was it a marker that partisan
% politics have gotten
% the better of public health?
% >> Well, it got--
% It set a marker in saying that
% there will be never any
% restrictions on what might be
% a dangerous situation.
% You know, if we if we did
% have a second wave or if we did
% have a surge, it's likely
% at some point time
% we're going to have to say,
% "Well, you can only have
% 50 people in this space
% rather than 500 people
% in this space," but that just
% wasn't going to happen.
% So, we will do the things
% we can do to make sure
% that people are safe.
% >> Are communications still
% happening between you
% and the Republican leadership?
% >> Sure, we've talked a couple
% times this week, and,
% you know, talked about things
% like how schools can open up
% and making sure that you're
% talking about the University
% of Wisconsin System.
% How we can communicate if
% there is a surge going forward.
% So, No, we are--
% It's just the, first of all, the
% rule, the idea that there was
% gonna be any grand bargain on
% this-- and the Supreme Court
% kind of set the stage--
% just wasn't an accurate one.
% >> On Thursday, you allocated
% one hundred million dollars
% out of the federal Cares Act
% money toward helping long-term
% care facilities and emergency
% medical services, but that came
% the same day as our next guest
% in this program blasted you
% in a letter for what he said
% was ignoring nursing homes.
% Is that how this interaction
% though is going, notwithstanding
% to some of the discussions
% you say you're having.
% >> Well, apparently, what the
% discussion we're having with
% the leadership didn't make it
% down to Representative Steineke.
% Clearly, we always had planned
% once the care money came in
% that we're you know the
% long-term care facilities were
% the ones that really didn't
% get any money or very little
% money from the previous federal
% allocation so this was going
% to happen and I know he made
% the claim that we hadn't reached
% out to different organizations.
% We have constant conversations
% with people in those
% long-term care facilities.
% Heck, we're trying to get in and
% make sure every one of those
% are tested so, you know,
% that communication didn't happen
% from his leadership to him
% for some reason.
% Now, by far, the largest
% allocation in my understanding
% was a billion dollars that
% Wisconsin allocated to testing
% and contact tracing.
% Describe why those things are
% such a major focus?
% >> Absolutely, well,
% that is how,
% if we have a surge and or if
% there is a second wave, this is
% how we're going to have to
% contain this and it always has
% been the most important thing.
% The more people we test, the
% more people we can find out
% if they're they are ill
% and get them give them isolated
% and get the people that
% they've contacted isolated.
% As we do that across the state,
% we start to slowly start to
% manage this system so it's
% absolutely the most important
% thing, in addition to getting
% the equipment we need.
% And so, we're doing-- well,
% I know we hit, I think, 9,000,
% almost 10,000 tests just today
% and we want to keep that up.
% We want to do 85,000 a week
% and as we do that, we're able to
% you know make it less likely
% that any surge will happen.
% >> President Trump, as you well
% know, gets tested every day
% and he talks about that.
% Do you, likewise, get tested
% or take extra precautions?
% >> I take extra precautions
% because I'm essentially self-
% quarantined at the executive
% residence or the Capitol.
% There's very few people that
% interact with me and the people
% that do have very few
% interactions either so
% there's no one use
% wasting a test on me
% because we are-- my wife and I
% are essentially self-isolating
% in our lives right now.
% >> Just very briefly,
% with only about 30 seconds left.
% What do you think about much of
% the state being reopened heading
% into this holiday weekend?
% >> Yeah, well,
% I'll make it very clear.
% One thing we have to do is spend
% time reflecting upon those
% people that not only died
% in this epidemic, but obviously
% to paid the ultimate sacrifice,
% in our armed services over time.
% That reflection, I think, should
% give us an opportunity to think
% about staying closer to home.
% I think it is going to be
% a lot of people coming in from
% out of state and we--
% I think, you know, social
% distancing, doing the things
% that we need to do, as far as
% making sure that we're doing
% the hygiene.
% Staying closer to home, I think,
% is the best recommendation
% I have, but Memorial Day
% is about that reflection
% and so hopefully people
% will be doing that.
% >> All right, Governor
% Tony Evers, thanks again.
% >> Thanks a lot, Frederica.
% Take care!