Photos and videos on social media and in news reports showed people flooding bars in Wisconsin on Wednesday night — with many not wearing masks or social distancing — after the state Supreme Court struck down Gov. Tony Evers' stay-at-home order.
The Washington Post reports: Right after the Supreme Court's conservative majority issued a 4-3 ruling, invalidating the extension of the stay-at-home order issued by Evers's appointed state health chief, the Tavern League of Wisconsin instructed its members to feel free to “OPEN IMMEDIATELY!” With Evers's statewide orders kaput, local health authorities scrambled to issue or extend city- or countywide stay-at-home orders, creating a hodgepodge of rules and regulations all across the state that are bound to cause confusion, not to mention some traffic across county lines. It's a situation unlike any in the United States as the pandemic rages on. But most of all, Evers feared that the court's order would cause the one thing he was trying to prevent: more death.
“We're going to have more cases, we're going to have more deaths, and it's a sad occasion for the state,” Evers told MSNBC on Wednesday night. “I can't tell you how disappointed I am. The people have Wisconsin have worked so hard to get where we're at. … We're the Wild West. There are no rules, no regulations. The Tavern League has said open your doors, and it's not a good place.”
NBC15.com reports: A bar in downtown Platteville posted a video on Twitter showing the establishment packed with people shortly after the “safer at home” order was struck down by the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Nick's Bar on 2nd Street posted the 36 second video around 9:30 Wednesday night. The video shows people sitting at every seat at the bar and multiple people standing against the wall. Social distancing is not being practiced. No one is seen wearing a mask.
More from WTMJ-TV: More than a dozen customers were welcomed inside Limanski's Pub to a sign on the door that read, “Please sanitize your hands upon entering and to remain two bar stools apart unless {you're} from the same household.” … It was much-needed stress relief for regular customer Katie Koutski. “I have a toddler at home and I'm a full-time nurse so it's been very stressful and hard to not be able to go out and be with my friends and family at the bars,” Koutski said. [Owner Kathy] Goedde said she reminded patrons to keep a social distance while limiting capacity to a third the bar can hold. Koutski said she didn't have any concerns about catching coronavirus at the bar. “I don't think the risk presents any higher than me going to a grocery store or me being out in the community in any other sort of way,” she said.
Watch WTMJ's report below.
Try living in the Wisconsin county with the highest per capita number of cases and seeing articles like this. Elbow to elbow, no masks…https://t.co/rcEoFyB5Ly
— Kristin Karnitz (@KristinKarnitz) May 14, 2020
