- Each week since the pandemic
started in mid-March, we have
checked in with Governor Tony
Evers to get the newest
information on the state's
response to Covid-19.
I talked with Governor Evers
earlier today as we head into
another summer weekend.
But first, we began with
his reaction to the death of
George Floyd, who was killed
when a Minneapolis police
officer pressed his knee onto
Floyd's neck.
That officer has now been
charged with murder.
And Governor, thank you very
much for being here again.
- Thank you. Thanks, Frederica.
- You put out an impassioned
statement today on the death of
George Floyd saying this was
not an anomaly, and with
it we relive the pain
of the death of black
Wisconsinites like Dontre
Hamilton.
You say that we must see the
trauma, fear and exhaustion
of being black in our state and
our country.
My question to you is, and
then what?
- Well, it is-- it's a personal
statement that that I have
there. But it as a state and
as a nation, we we do have
to grapple with the issue of
racism and
how issues
are dealt with disproportionately.
Whether it's issues
around the pandemic
or issues of whether
people
walk away from an incident
was a police officer
and live.
And so it is,
it is time for all
of us to reflect on
that and and
make sure that our
hearts are in the right place.
Obviously, there is policies
that we can look at to change
things. But at the end of the
day, the change has to happen
internally.
And I'm just-- it's
such a depressing situation.
But we can rise above
it. But we have to address it.
- There was protests in
Milwaukee this afternoon, the
title of which was "No
more being stood on.
We can't breathe."
Milwaukee, as you know, suffers
some of the worst inequalities
in the nation.
Are these conditions urgent for
you?
A public emergency of sorts?
- Yeah, absolutely.
I had a chance to talk to
several leaders
in the Milwaukee community,
including
elected officials, but also
community leaders today.
And clearly, this
is something that
we all take seriously.
We just, you know-- it's
always easy once
we're a week or two out from
this to say
to not think about it.
But this is,
this is, this
is a watershed motion for a
time for our, for our state
and for our nation.
I'm just-- I'm very hopeful
that we can, we can take a look
at racism. How it impacts
people's lives and how
our issues are disproportionate
health care outcomes
affecting certain people
differently.
Certainly people of color
differently and
economically, housing.
You name it.
There is a disproportionate--
disproportionality
frankly on
all issues that
face us. And so, yes,
it is going to be an ongoing
issue that we need to talk
about.
- As if to mirror the
disparities of which
you speak in Milwaukee,
Covid-19 numbers and
deaths there are disproportionately
affecting African-Americans
and Hispanics.
And now the state reopens.
Today, we see that there were
733 new
Covid-19 cases and
18 new fatalities.
Your comment on those numbers?
- Well, they're high, obviously,
and we're testing more so that
that does play a role in this.
But at the end of the
day, we need to continue
to do the really important
things. You know, social
distancing, making sure we're
six feet ahead, making sure our
hands are clean.
You know, all-- wear
masks. All those things are
important. And we need to keep
emphasizing that.
Clearly it's -- but
I want to circle back.
This, this, this issue does
impact
people of color in a really
extraordinarily different way,
in a negative way.
And if, as a state,
if we don't start to take
on that area-- issue
seriously, you know, I'll
just go back to something I
worked on last year
around our budget with Medicaid
expansion.
We could have had, we could
have had resources to deal
with those disproportionate
health outcomes instead
of having it being showing up
again in this pandemic.
We could be working on it right
now. And unfortunately, we
couldn't get the legislature to
think through that.
- What do you think, in the
midst of all of this, when
you see crowds of people as
summer breaks here,
not wearing masks and
not social distancing?
- Well, I understand-- it's
being cooped up that
that isn't something anybody
likes. But if we're going to go
out, we do need
to do the things that are
important. It disappoints
me when it does happen.
When I see pictures of that,
that people are
congregating right next to
each other without masks.
That doesn't work.
The virus doesn't really care
about you being cooped
up in your house.
It's going to infect you.
And so we just have to keep
reminding people.
I think and I think
our business leaders for
the most part do believe that
these things are important and
they're implementing those
things in their places of work.
But it's outside of that
realm that scares me.
All right, Governor Evers, we
leave it there. Thank you very
much for your information and
comment today.
- Thank you so much.