Officials say safer-at-home order is working

Gov. Tony Evers said Monday that they’re beginning to see signs that Wisconsin is “flattening the curve,” meaning fewer people are getting sick and there’s less impact on the state’s healthcare system.

The Department of Health Services reported 87 new cases of COVID-19 Monday, bringing the total to 3,428 positive tests. There have been 154 deaths and 36,769 negative tests.

“I know it can sound discouraging to hear an increase in these numbers, but it is important to know that we have actually seen a decrease in the exponential growth as a result of safer-at-home,” DHS Secretary-designee Andrea Palm told reporters.

An updated University of Washington analysis shows Wisconsin hitting its resource peak on Tuesday.

Dr. Ryan Westergaard, chief medical officer of the Bureau of Communicable Diseases at DHS, said while they may be flattening the curve, they “haven’t smashed the curve down to nothing.”

“There’s still people with the infection in the community that we don’t know about,” he said. “We need to be very careful, make sure we have all the resources in place as time goes on to keep the curve low because we’re not at all out of the woods in terms of having another surge when things change in terms of our physical distancing.”

On a separate press call, Milwaukee Health Commissioner Jeanette Kowalik said more time is needed to see whether there’s a “potential flattening,” especially in light of last week’s in-person voting.

“Just look for the next two weeks and see if numbers continue to flatten or if we’ll see a spike,” she said. “We’re hoping for the best, but we also acknowledge that the election activities definitely could set us back.”

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