Milwaukee lifting more restrictions
New health order allows visitors to nursing homes
A new COVID-19 health order from the City of Milwaukee will go into effect Friday, further lifting restrictions on museums, sporting events, bars and restaurants as case numbers and other criteria the city uses to gauge progress on combating the pandemic have improved.
“Our intention with the new orders is for Milwaukee residents, businesses and organizations to have a better understanding of where we are headed, or, if cases reverse and begin to increase again, where we would go back to,” Milwaukee Health Commissioner Kirsten Johnson said in a virtual news conference Thursday.
Officials were moving toward reopening cautiously because the virus is still a “dangerous threat in our city,” she said in a statement.
The new Phase 6 order will allow restaurants and bars to increase their possible capacity and ease restrictions on patrons’ movement, raise museums’ capacity limits, and permit sporting events and recreational activities to have as many as six fans per participant, according to a statement from the Health Department.
The order also lifts restrictions on visitors to long-term care facilities, the department said.
“This is one that is very, very important for grandchildren, for children, for everyone . ... All those heartbreaking stories that we see about grandma or grandpa not being able to talk to their grandkids in person, I’m hoping we’ll never see another one of those stories in our lives,” Mayor Tom Barrett said.
Child care organizations can also
operate at full capacity instead of 75%.
Salons and spas can have three clients per service provider in the business at a time, though congregating in a waiting area remains prohibited. That is an increase from the single client permitted in the previous order.
The order also states that requirements for safe business practices and steps to guard against the spread of the virus remain in effect, including wearing masks, social distancing, cleaning surfaces and enforcing restrictions on employees who have been exposed to the virus or have symptoms.
Increased capacity limits for bars, restaurants
The new order raises the capacity limits on bars and restaurants that do not have a Health Department-approved safety plan to the lesser of 50% of the total occupancy or one person for every 30 square feet of floor space open to the public.
The previous order, Order 4.4, had a limit of the lesser of 25% of the total occupancy or one person per 30 square feet of floor space open to the public.
The new order also says that seating for customers has to be provided and encouraged, but customers are now allowed to move throughout the establishment.
Customers cannot walk throughout an establishment without masks while holding food or drinks.
Previously, customers had to stay in their seats unless they were ordering, going to or from their tables when they arrived or left, or using the bathroom. It also required that dance floors be closed.
Dance floors will be allowed to reopen.
Capacity limits for museums raised
Museums will have 100% capacity inside with a maximum of 1,000 people, under the new order.
Those seeking capacity of more than 1,000 people can be granted permission through a Health Department-approved safety plan.
Museums recently started reopening but had capacity limits of the lesser of 25% total occupancy, one person for every 30 square feet of floor space open to the public or 250 people in addition to required employees. They could have a higher capacity with an approved plan, however.
More fans at sports games
Six fans per player will be able to attend sports games and other recreational activities inside, under the new order.
There is a limit of 750 fans at indoor venues and 1,000 fans outside as long as physical distancing is maintained, according to the Health Department statement.
Larger crowds can be permitted with a safety plan. “That’s exactly what happened with the Bucks and the Brewers . ... That’s why you will see larger numbers there,” Barrett said.
That contrasts with the two fans per participant allowed under the previous order.
Concert venues see greater capacity
For indoor concert venues, the limits are the lesser of 75% of the total capacity, one person for every 30 square feet of floor space open to the public or 750 people in addition to required employees, the order said.
Outdoor concerts are limited to the lesser of one person for every 30 square feet of floor space open to the public or 1,000 people in addition to required employees.
Additional capacity requires a Health Department-approved safety plan.
Physical distancing is required at indoor and outdoor venues.
The new order lifted the requirement that attendees need to be seated except when they’re arriving, leaving or going to the bathroom.
New criteria to inform reopening
The order replaces Order 4.4, which was issued at the beginning of February and eased gathering limits because the city’s COVID-19 metrics had been improving.
At the time, officials said it was unclear how new strains of the virus would affect the community.
But Milwaukee has seen more progress in the key indicators that the city has used to gauge success in combating the virus. The city and county have used red, yellow and green to indicate worst to best on five key indicators — cases, testing, care, safety and tracing.
Since mid-February, cases, testing and care have been green while safety and tracing have been yellow.
But the criteria are now changing for the first time since they were put in place at the beginning of the pandemic last year, according to the city.
The change is meant to more closely align with guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Johnson said.
The new criteria will include the number of cases per 100,000 people over seven days, the percentage of positive tests over the previous seven days and the adult vaccination rate in the city, according to the Health Department.
More restrictions could return if cases and other metrics start to go in the wrong direction, Johnson said.
Johnson said the department will continue to track the data associated with the criteria that had been in use previously.
Over the course of the pandemic, the city has had 595 deaths and more than 63,600 positive cases.