DHS COVID-19 Media Briefing for 8/4/2020

Who: 

• Governor Tony Evers
• Deputy Secretary Julie Willems Van Dijk, Wisconsin Department of Health Services 
• Dr. Ryan Westergaard, Chief Medical Officer of the Bureau of Communicable Diseases   
• Ryan Nilsestuen, Chief Legal Counsel, Office of the Governor

When: Tuesday, August 4, 2020 at 1:30 p.m.                         

Governor Evers explained that the state ist increasing testing capacity by taking on new testing partners for COVID-19 testing. He also asked for cooperation with wearing masks according to the current order.

Data from hospitals is currently not being collected in full because of the changes in reporting suddenly mandated by the Washington Administration. This will be rectified soon, but requires aggregating information from two different sources.

The Governor was asked about the legislature's plans to re-convene to override the mask order. He believes that removing the order would "set us back, and we can't afford to be set back at this time".

Governor Evers stated that "the vast majority of school districts are thinking about a lot of different options" for opening schools, and that many of the large districts are having virtual-only openings.