Governor announces 1B vaccine rollout, extends mask order for 60 days

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services held a Media Update at 1:30 PM today. The video is available here. 

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

In today's update  Governor Evers asked that the Assembly work to pass the amended Senate COVID relief bill. The Senate and Assembly bills are at this time very different.

The Governor has said that Wisconsin could be distributing much more vaccine if only the vaccine were available. The state is beginning to move into phase 1B of the vaccine distribution, and the state is starting to roll out the mobile vaccination program staffed by the National Guard and Pharmacy and Nursing students from the university system. Partner pharmacies will start rolling out vaccinations in long-term care facilities next week as well. 

The public health order for face coverings is being renewed, retaining the face-covering requirement for another 60 days. 

213,056 doses of vaccine have been administered, 30,780 people have completed their vaccine series. There are new updates to the vaccine information page at DHS to make it easier to see progress across the state. The federal government is indicating that the second doses that were promised may not be arriving as expected. Discussions continue on that issue. 

DHS is rolling out a weekly COVID-19 newsletter that you can receive via email by signing up at the DHS site. On the media call the DHS officials again explained that it is still important to take measures to stop the spread of the virus by staying home, covering your face in public, continuing to wash your hands, and following the other pandemic guidelines.