Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D) said on Monday he won't seek new statewide coronavirus measures after the state Supreme Court rejected his prior lockdown last week.
The governor reversed course and withdrew its statement of scope for new coronavirus regulations following strong push back from Republicans against the plan. Local jurisdictions will now decide what restrictions to put in place moving forward.
The statement of scope from the Wisconsin Department of Health Service limited the number of people in enclosed spaces, imposed social distancing requirements, limited mass gatherings and put in place protections for customers and employees in businesses.
“The Republicans have made it very clear that they don't believe a statewide approach is the right way to go at this point in time, and they also don't believe any restrictions are advisable at this time,” Evers told reporters.
Evers added, “Given that, it just doesn’t make any sense to spend a lot of time doing something that we know isn’t going to be successful."
Last week, the Wisconsin Supreme Court overruled Evers' state-wide stay-at-home order, forcing him to go to the table with state Republican lawmakers to devise a new plan. Evers criticised that decision because he said it would lead to a spike in coronavirus cases.
As of Monday night, Wisconsin has 12,687 coronavirus cases, including 459 deaths.
Oregon's stay-at-home order was also struck down on Monday by a judge who said Democratic Gov. Kate Brown didn't get legislative approval to extend the measure past 28 days.