It will likely be weeks before Wisconsin sees a decrease, or even a leveling-off, of COVID-19 cases in the state.
That’s even if people follow the order limiting travel put in place by Gov. Tony Evers this week.
On Wednesday, Evers’ Safer-At-Home order took effect. It instructed people not to leave their house, except for essential reasons.
On Friday, Andrea Palm, the Secretary-designee of the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, said that will help slow the spread, but the effects won’t be immediate.
“Assuming that we are all implementing Safer at Home well, it will likely be several weeks before we start to see the results of those efforts,” she said. “That is because of the lag time between infection to symptom onset and ultimately to a positive test result.”
On Friday afternoon, the state announced it now has 842 positive COVID-19 test results, including 13 deaths.
By an order on Friday, Evers stopped all evictions and foreclosures during the outbreak.
“This order is another step to prioritize the health and safety of Wisconsinites during this public health emergency,” Evers said. “Evictions and foreclosures pose a direct and serious threat to the health and wellbeing of Wisconsinites, especially as we ask that everybody remain safer at home.”
Evers also said he wanted the Legislature to pass a law sending absentee ballots to all registered voters in the state for the April 7 election to avoid in-person voting. Whether that will happen is yet to be decided.