Molly Beck | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

MADISON - Daily life in Wisconsin would begin to resume only after cases of coronavirus and flu-like symptoms declined for two weeks straight under a plan released Monday by Gov. Tony Evers.

Evers' plan requires restrictions to be lifted in three phases, testing to be available for everyone with symptoms, and leaves the decision to allow more interaction and business activity with state health officials.

"I am jazzed and hopeful about this plan," Evers told reporters Monday. "This plan is an all-out war on the virus."

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But the plan, which includes timelines suggested by President Donald Trump, was largely criticized by Republicans who control the Legislature and are asking for a specific timeline Evers says is impossible to predict.

GOP legislative leaders on Monday said they wouldn't back off plans to sue Evers over his decision to extend his order to stay at home until May 26.

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"Wisconsinites need certainty during these uncertain times. As we have seen too often throughout the pandemic, the governor says something one day and the opposite the next," Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, both Republicans, said in a statement Monday. "That is why we can’t afford to withdraw our impending legal action. Too much is at stake."

Other Republicans are calling on Evers to allow the state to resume normal life within four weeks.

It's unlikely the state would see the required decrease in cases and increase in testing to trigger the first phase of lifting restrictions in that time frame, Evers said Monday.

In the last week, a daily average of 153 new cases have been reported. As testing increases, more new cases will likely be reported.

Nearly 4,500 cases of the virus have been confirmed in the state since the outbreak began here on March 2. Of those cases, 230 people have died.

State health officials say if Evers' restrictions hadn't been in place, cases and deaths would have been five times greater by now.

Evers' order includes a provision that leaves it in place if Republican lawmakers are successful in striking down separate orders Evers has issued during the public health emergency, like the order to stay at home that has contributed to more than 350,000 unemployment claims.

The plan requires a 14-day decline in the number of new cases of the virus before state health officials may move the state into a new phase of reviving the economy.

In the first phase, schools could resume classroom instruction, restaurants could re-open with restrictions and Wisconsin residents could gather in groups of up to 10 people.

The plan's second phase would allow gatherings of up to 50 people, restaurants to resume normal operations, bars to open with social distancing restrictions and non-essential businesses resuming operations with similar restrictions. Colleges and universities also could resume instruction.

In the third and last phase, all businesses may resume operations and gatherings will have no size limits. Minimal protective and preventative measures would be in place for people at high risk of becoming seriously ill by the virus.

The plan, which Evers has called the Badger Bounce Back Plan, was issued by executive order and comes just days after Evers extended his most restrictive order during the coronavirus pandemic, one that requires people to stay at home as much as possible.

"I have complete confidence in the people in Wisconsin wanting this to be over, and the way that they have it be over is to make sure they're safer at home and to make sure we put a plan in place in a great, solid way," Evers said.

Eighteen GOP members in the Assembly on Friday sent Evers a letter demanding the governor follow a monthlong plan to resume activities beginning Saturday, saying they haven't seen any data to support restrictions being in place any longer.

Republican lawmakers have criticized Evers for not previously releasing a standalone plan to revive the state's economy. Evers has previously said the restrictions would be lifted when risk of infection is low, testing is high and hospitals aren't in danger of being overwhelmed.

Vos and Fitzgerald questioned the plan's call to be able to conduct 85,000 tests per week given the 51,102 tests that have been conducted since the outbreak began, and because health officials are testing below the state's capacity.

"These are not criteria for reopening, they’re roadblocks," they said.

The GOP leaders also suggested areas of the state with far fewer cases of the virus shouldn't be under the same restrictions as Madison and Milwaukee, where more than half the state's infected residents live.

Evers said Monday preventing the virus from spreading in more rural areas is important because health care systems are not as robust in areas with fewer people and could easily become overwhelmed.

One Republican welcomed the plan, however. Sen. Dan Feyen of Fond du Lac said Evers' plan was a "step in the right direction."

“We need to strike a balance between public safety and economic well-being. This plan is a step in the right direction, but it’s not likely the silver bullet," he said in a statement. "Changes will need to be made moving forward as situations change in real-time. I am hopeful we can work together to provide the solutions our citizens deserve."

Meanwhile, Sen. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, has called on his Senate colleagues to fire Department of Health Services Secretary Andrea Palm over the orders. He said Monday the latest order from Evers pushes the state into "a constitutional crisis."

Palm, who was appointed in January 2019, has not yet been confirmed by the Senate.

"Rather than working with citizens, business owners, legislators and healthcare officials to develop a consensus plan with realistic criteria for safely reopening our state, the public health order expands the power of Secretary-Designee Palm to exercise nearly unlimited command-and-control over our economy and society," Nass said in a statement.

While Republican lawmakers are making the case that the majority of Wisconsin residents oppose the governor's restrictions, recent Marquette University Law School polling showed 86% of those surveyed said it was appropriate to close schools and businesses, and restrict public gatherings, while 10% said the closures were an overreaction.

In the same polling results released April 1, 76% said they approved of the job Evers was doing.

That survey was taken before Evers announced on Friday he was extending the order closing businesses and schools until the end of May, prompting widespread criticism from Republican lawmakers.

The state's chamber of commerce and lobbyists for bars and restaurants have since called on Evers to allow businesses to reopen in a few weeks.

Bill Glauber of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel contributed to this report.

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State shutdown changes life in Wisconsin