The local safer-at-home order and the plan for re-opening the economy falls under the authority of Rock County Public Health Officer Marie-Noel Sandoval, but she won’t be making the decisions alone.
Rock County Administrator Josh Smith detailed their plans for a community task force during Thursday night’s county board meeting, to offer guidance and public input to Sandoval in crafting the right plan for our area.
Smith and his staff are connecting with chambers of commerce across the county to form a committee representative of every sector of business in the area.
After the Wisconsin Supreme Court struck down Governor Tony Evers’ safer-at-home plan Wednesday night, Sandoval reinstated the restrictions at the local level through May 26, the same timeline as Evers’ extension.
“The goal is to be able to get this agreement so that we certainly would not continue under the current order we have, which is very extensive,” Smith told the county board. “Whether there might be another order that [Sandoval] would wish to consider in a lesser way, that remains to be seen.”
The health department is considering potential benchmarks the county may need to reach to continue “turning the dial” locally.
Rock County Epidemiologist Nick Zupan emphasized the importance of even more increased testing and contact tracing. He wants to see a downward trend in the percentage of positive COVID-19 cases and the number of people showing symptoms.
County attorney Richard Greenlee told the county board it does not have the legal authority to overrule or modify Sandoval’s emergency orders for communicable diseases, but the board can affect policy in other ways and offer recommendations to the public health officer.
The board voted Thursday night to support the creation of the task force and to extend the county’s state of emergency an additional 30 days. The initial emergency declaration was set to expire Friday.
