Wisconsin declares Covid state of emergency

Governor Tony Evers of Wisconsin will declare a new Covid state of emergency and extend current emergency measures until January, he said on Wednesday, including expanding the state’s mask mandate through 2021.

“It’s clear, based on where we’re headed, we cannot afford to stop, or have a gap in some of the only mitigation efforts we still have in place,” Mr Evers said.

Wisconsin is one of few places in the country without a statewide plan to tackle the pandemic, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports, after state Republicans sued to block executive measures from the governor’s office, and no legislative solution has been agreed to thus far.

The announcement, during a briefing with the state’s Department of Health Services (DHS), came the same day Wisconsin reported 7,989 new coronavirus cases, breaking a previous record. The governor warned that if current coronavirus trends continue, the state could see 5,000 deaths by the end of the year.