MADISON, Delete. (WMTV) – With Dane County’s current COVID-19 emergency warrant expiring next week, local health officials have introduced a new warrant, further easing restrictions on individuals and businesses in the district.
“We started at the beginning of this pandemic with clear goals: we tried to minimize disease and death in our community and reduce the toll this pandemic took on families and health workers that we have seen in too many places in this country. said Dane County Executive Joe Parisi. “These new orders reflect the hope we should all feel as more people are vaccinated and we get closer to the final chapters of this pandemic every day.”
Chief among the changes in Emergency Order # 14 is increasing the collection limits for indoor and outdoor gatherings. A meeting with food or drink is limited to 150 people, while a meeting without food or drink is limited to 350 people. An outdoor gathering is limited to 500 people regardless of a food or drink option.
The department also increased the restaurant’s capacity to 50%, while taverns must limit indoor dining capacity to 25% of the approved capacity.
At both indoor and outdoor gatherings, health officials require people to maintain a social distance of six feet. Individuals must wear face masks at every indoor gathering, but masks are only required at outdoor gatherings if the occupancy exceeds 50 people.
Janel Heinrich, director of Public Health Madison & Dane County, explained that 18.5% of the residents of Dane Co. received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, demonstrating the progress that Dane Co. has booked.
“But even at our current vaccination rate, we are already seeing significant and hopeful progress toward our end goal,” Heinrich said at a news conference.
In its statement, Public Health Madison & Dane Co. the main changes from the previous order to the new one detailed and emphasized.
- An indoor meeting where food or drink is offered or provided is limited to 150 people. An indoor meeting where no food or drink is offered or provided is limited to 350 people. Individuals must maintain a physical distance of 6 feet and face cover is required.
- An outdoor meeting is limited to 500 people. Individuals must maintain a physical distance of 1.8 meters. Face cover required for gatherings of more than 50 people.
- The policy requirements for school protections have been updated to include items on face coverings and disassembly from employees, disassociation for students, and student groups.
- Restaurants are allowed to open up to 50% of their capacity.
- Taverns should limit indoor dining capacity to 25% of the approved capacity levels. Place tables and chairs to ensure there is at least six (6) feet of physical distance between customers who are not members of the same household or housing unit.
Parisi quoted Monday night’s Light the Nights event during Tuesday’s press conference, noting that today’s distress warrant may look to the future.
“Last night we gathered as a community to recognize the hardships and sacrifices that we have all endured as individuals and as a community over the past year. Today we can look to the future with cautious optimism and hope as we continue the process of step-by-step and careful reopening of our economy and our community.
Mayor Satya Rhodes Conway backed the new order, but said residents still need to be vigilant about their protection against COVID-19.
“Public health signs are meant to work at the population level to protect vulnerable people, preserve hospital capacity, suppress disease and prevent deaths,” the mayor said. “As an individual or as a family, you may have to make stricter choices based on your comfort with risks.”
The order will take effect Wednesday, March 10 at 12:01 a.m. and will remain in effect for 28 days.
The following provisions are unchanged between the previous order and the last order:
- Face cover is required in closed buildings, when driving with people who are not part of your household, and outside in a restaurant or tavern. The types of facial covers allowed have been updated to reflect new CDC recommendations.
- Companies are limited to 50% of the approved construction capacity and must have a written cleaning and hygiene policy.
- Facilities for further and higher education institutions, industry-specific requirements, healthcare, public health, human services, infrastructure, manufacturing, government, and religious entities and groups remain unchanged.
February order
The previous order had increased the number of people allowed to gather at local businesses, with hats ranging from 25 to 100, depending on whether the business was serving food or not and whether the meeting was held indoors or out.
It also opened the door to games and competitions for games and competitions and pushed the limit for daycare and kindergarten groups. The February 8 order, which took effect two days later, was to expire on March 10, subject to a replacement order.
Heinrich said at the time that she is “hopeful” that her agency can continue to do this in the coming months.
New business is falling sharply
When the warrant was issued, an average of more than a hundred new COVID-19 cases were reported daily. Since then, the seven-day moving average has nearly halved from 111.3 per day to 56.70 cases per day, according to the latest figures from PHMDC.
At its peak in November, Dane Co. an average of nearly 500 cases per day.
Coinciding with the new restrictions, Dane Co. officials have also rolled out a new Forward Dane plan outlining how the county plans to reopen.
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