No Mask Mandate For Waukesha County, Exec Says

UPDATE: Waukesha County Exec Says Governor's Mask Order 'Goes Too Far'

WAUKESHA, WI — Waukesha County Executive Paul Farrow said his county will not see a county-wide mask mandate.

Farrow made the marks the same day he and other leaders held a news conference at Menomonee Falls High School to urge safe procedures amid the COVID-19 pandemic in the county.

"We're in the middle of a pandemic that we have to deal with it, and the decisions we make today will help figure out what we're going to do as the fall starts," he said Wednesday during the news conference.

>> Coronavirus Cases Escalate In Waukesha County: Health Department

COVID-19 continued to set new highs in Waukesha County over the last week as local officials try to set new guidelines for the fall school year.

According to the Waukesha County Health Department, half of all COVID-19 cases recorded have come in July. Monday saw 86 new cases, preceded by 95 cases on Sunday and 138 on Saturday.
Waukesha set two new 24-hour case count records this week, with 133 cases on July 20 and 144 on Thursday. Waukesha County has the fourth-highest case count in the state, and is behind Milwaukee County in Southeastern Wisconsin.

Here is a look at the confirmed case count in Waukesha County as of Wednesday.
July 27: 86
July 26: 95
July 25: 138
July 24: 91
July 23: 144
July 22: 101
July 21: 90
July 20: 133

Authorities say there were 1,029 active COVID-19 cases in the county as of Wednesday. Health officials say 2,088 cases, or roughly 65 percent of total patients, have recovered.
There have been 48 COVID-19-related deaths in the county to date.

July 20 was a high-water mark for positive case percentage in Waukesha county, when 15.5 percent of all tests came back positive. Since then, positive case percentages have fluctuated, with 13.8 percent positive cases on Sunday, but only 7.8 percent on Monday.

Yet at the same time, Farrow stopped short of issuing a face mask mandate.

“We know there are individuals on both sides of the far extremes saying ‘we have to do masks’ or ‘there’s no way I’m ever doing masks,’ and we’re trying to cut right down the middle,” Farrow said in a JSOnline report Wednesday. “As long as we don’t see an overburden occurring in our hospitals, then I think we’re going to stay the course at the moment.”