Judge’s order chooses full bars over full classrooms

It is a trying time for bars and restaurants. Many are barely hanging on as they have seen business drop during the pandemic. Calling it a “de facto closure” the Wisconsin Tavern League has filed a lawsuit challenging Governor Tony Evers’ order that those businesses limit their occupancy to no more than 25% of capacity as a way to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Now, a judge has put the governor’s order on hold, and scheduled a court hearing in the case for next Monday. So, the back and forth continues, as does another lawsuit over the order that people wear masks while indoors in Wisconsin. A judge has upheld the order for now, but the legal battle continues, with those bringing the lawsuit claiming Wisconsin’s governor cannot issue two executive orders for the same crisis. Do they not understand this is a pandemic? A pandemic that has claimed the lives of more than 1500 Wisconsinites? That the state just set another new single day record for number of new infections? Experts tell us the best way to slow the spread of the virus, and to allow our economy to recover, is to avoid crowds, wear masks and socially distance. Opening bars and restaurants to full capacity flies in the face of that guidance. As Senator Latonya Johnson points out if this decision stands, “Wisconsin will be choosing full bars over full classrooms.” We aren’t going to get back to normal until we can contain the virus, and we can’t do that when we continue to pretend we are not in the midst of the worst pandemic of our lifetimes.