- At the same time, Milwaukee
is working on implementing its
own face mask requirement.
Health Secretary-designee
Andrea Palm is helping manage
the coronavirus response in
Wisconsin as we experience
the biggest surge to date.
And Andrea Palm joins us this
week. Thanks very much for
doing so.
- Thanks for having me.
- So reporting this week showed
that Wisconsin's COVID-19 reproduction
rate is the worst
in the nation.
What should we make of that?
- So I think we we have had
the good fortune here in
Wisconsin of watching
both now and when we--
when it first arrived here in
the states, other
states who have been sort of on
the leading edge of this.
And so I think as we see our
reproduction number
and our surge happening
here in Wisconsin, we need to
take note of what we're seeing
around the country and do
what we need to do as a state
to pull back together,
to stop the spread, to reduce
our surge from becoming worse
so that we don't get ourselves
in a place where we look like
some of our our neighboring
and other states around the
country.
- So our numbers have doubled
in the past six weeks.
What have contact tracers
been able to show you
and other public health
officials about
where those cases are coming
from?
- So I think there's a couple
of things worth noting
in the data we're seeing from
our contact tracers.
One is what
we're seeing here and around
the country is that there is a
large uptick in our
20-somethings who are becoming
infected with COVID-19.
And then secondly,
our surge is also being driven
by mass gatherings, by
you know, everything from
barbecues and bars and
restaurants and,
you know, other types of events
where people are not social
distancing, not wearing masks
and are in in large groups
that help reduce our ability
to really do good contact
tracing, get to the root of
it and stop the spread.
- So mass gatherings like
over the Fourth of July, for
example, where we saw large
crowds in the Wisconsin Dells
at the water parks.
When will any positive cases
from last weekend's
kind of mass gatherings
show up?
- You know, so as we've learned
many things throughout this
pandemic, one of the things we
we know about this virus is
symptom onset is anywhere
from a few days to 14
days.
And so we certainly could
start to see cases
from mass gatherings that
happened over the weekend
late this week.
But what I think is most
important is that folks
who were at mass gatherings
should do, should take the
steps to protect themselves,
to protect [?].
So self isolate, monitor
for symptoms, get a test.
Talk to your health care
provider if you have even the
mildest symptoms.
But make sure if you were at
a gathering that you take the
necessary steps to protect
yourself and those in your
community from the spread of
COVID-19.
- Have we seen evidence that
any of the mass gatherings
by way of racial
justice protests caused
an increase in cases?
- So as you know, one of the
things you get in a contact
tracing interview is
information about where people
have been.
And so mass gatherings, as
I mentioned, is a is a driver
in our surge right now.
But the bulk of of what we're
seeing in our data is
is not from
from those who participated in
protests, but in other types
of mass gatherings: house
parties, bars, restaurants,
places where there wasn't good
social distancing and and mask
wearing. But
the protests particularly
are not coming up
in great numbers in our--
in the data we're getting from
contact tracing.
- As you well know, Governor
Evers just imposed a mask
mandate for state employees
inside state buildings
and he will not reopen state
buildings as planned.
Would you, if you
could, impose a
mask mandate statewide?
- So I think the thing about
masks,
you know, they're a couple of
things I would say. One, the
evidence around the use of
masks and their their
effectiveness as a tool to stop
the spread has really developed
over the last couple of months.
And so we absolutely
are strongly encouraging folks
around Wisconsin to pitch
in and wear a mask and help
and help stop the spread.
I think as it relates to
state employees, again,
we are trying to lead by
example.
To walk the walk and
to to be part of
a solution statewide as we work
with local public health
and the tools that they have
to help reduce the spread
through orders and ordinances,
et cetera, that they are all
working
to do around the state.
And we we are trying to be
partners with them in that
effort.
- Speaking of local health
departments, our next guest is
a county executive who says
that it's his
belief that most counties,
except for Madison
and Milwaukee, except
in Madison and Milwaukee, are
hamstrung because he says
they don't have health codes
that could address these kinds
of circumstances on their
books.
What about that kind of
frustration?
- So so public health
outbreaks,
contagious diseases are
are are things that local
public health has
and has the tools
and has always had the tools,
whether it's measles, whether
it's sexually transmitted
diseases, tuberculosis.
This falls into that category.
And so, you know, isolation
and quarantine, other sorts
of public health outbreak tools
are certainly things that our
local public health departments
have.
He he certainly could be
talking about other things that
I'm not aware of specifically.
But but we certainly want
to make sure that our local
public health partners have the
tools that they need to stop
the spread of this disease.
- Meanwhile, as you also well
know, two thirds of Wisconsin
counties are in the high
transmission category right
now. What, in your expert
opinion, would be the threshold
for a declaration
of a new statewide emergency?
- So this this dashboard was
intended really to help provide
some of that kind of
information to locals
as they try to understand
what's happening on the ground
in their communities.
Right. It's it's about
disease activity,
the trajectory that that
disease is going.
Is it getting better?
Is it-- have we not seen a
significant change?
Is it getting worse?
It really helps you understand
directionally whether
the things we are doing on
the ground that local public
health and their local
electeds, whether it's helping
us move in the right direction.
And so we would want to look at
all that kind of information.
Hospital capacity,
how are they doing?
What's their ICU use?
You know, how are they looking
to make decisions like
that moving forward?
But right, this is the day to
day kind of thing in real time
that we need to be working very
closely with local public
health to do.
- All right. We need to leave
it there. Thank you for joining
us. And thank you for your
work. Secretary-designee
Andrea Palm.
- Thank you so much.