Wisconsin governor, health secretary warn of Thanksgiving dangers

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers says people need to make the “hard choices” and skip a big Thanksgiving this year.

“If you are planning to spend Thanksgiving with people outside of your household, we urge you to seriously reconsider,” Evers said. “None of us want to unwittingly spread this virus to someone we love, or host the next super-spreader event we hear about in the news.”

Evers became the latest Midwestern governor to warn against the dangers of Thanksgiving on Tuesday. Illinois’ governor warned people about hosting a big meal last week, and Michigan’s governor has been sounding the alarm for a while.

Evers said he is setting the example this year. He will spend Thanksgiving with only his wife.

The push to stay at home and keep Thanksgiving small comes as Wisconsin’s coronavirus numbers are dropping.

Both daily positives and the state’s daily positive rate are down since the beginning of the month. In some cases, in some age groups the number of positives are half what they were at the beginning of November.

But Wisconsin’s coronavirus deaths hit an all-time high on Tuesday. The state’s Department of Health Services reported 104 new deaths.

“Our situation in Wisconsin is only going to get better if we all take steps together to change the course of this pandemic,” Wisconsin Health Secretary-designee Andrea Palm said. “Do not gather with folks who you don’t live with. Going to a friend or a relative’s house, or hosting a dinner, even for Thanksgiving, are risks we cannot afford to take as a state.”

Since March, Wisconsin reported 363,973 people have tested positive for the virus. DHS says 284,903 (or 78%) of them have been declared recovered. There have been 3,115 deaths in Wisconsin since March. DHS says 77% of those deaths are among people who are 70-years-old or older.

DHS says 1,986 people are in the hospital across the state, including 436 people in an intensive care unit. There are another nine people in Wisconsin’s overflow hospital at the state fairgrounds in West Allis.