Progressive Dane Statement on Reopening our Communities during COVID-19 Pandemic

Dear County Executive Parisi, Mayor Rhodes-Conway, Public Health Director Heinrich, Dane County Supervisors, and Madison Common Council members,

We are writing to urge significant revisions to the Forward Dane plan to reopen our communities during the devastating COVID-19 pandemic. As currently written, the plan puts Dane County at risk for new waves of infection, for what will likely be small and short-lived gains in economic activity.

We know that any reopening plan takes risks. Lockdown restrictions have negative impacts on people’s mental and emotional health, as well as their financial well-being. Reopening plans must rely on rigorous, science-based criteria to balance these competing interests. However, we believe there are valuable lessons learned from our “essential” workers, who have faced risks throughout the pandemic to protect our communities, or just to keep their jobs.

We recommend the COVID-19 guide for local decision-makers (https://covid-local.org/), co-authored by the Global Biological Policy Program at the Nuclear Threat Initiative, Center for Global Development, Georgetown University Center for Global Health Science and Security, and Talus Analytics.

In comparison, the Forward Dane plan:

  • Lacks criteria for when or how restrictions should be added in response to potential increases in new COVID-19 cases in Dane County;

  • Fails to acknowledge the significant variations in risk among different types of activity and different environments, by allowing wide reopening at various percentages of capacity;

  • Fails to address the equity issues inherent to a plan that encourages working remotely when possible while failing to add protections for those who can not do so, workers who are disproportionately lower-wage and people of color; and

  • Does not set high standards for contact tracing and rapid testing of close contacts of people who develop COVID-19 as our communities reopen, thereby increasing the risk of new waves of infection.

We look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

Progressive Dane Steering Committee Members

Diane Farsetta

Martha Kemble

Brenda Konkel

Annie Kraus

Heidi Wegleitner

Progressive Dane