Frederica Freyberg:

On the COVID front, cases around the state remain high but are down from the stratospheric peak of mid-January. The steadily-high cases caused the public health officer for Dane County to announce the county’s mask mandate would continue another month, through the end of February.

Janel Heinrich:

Despite seeing cases and hospitalizations level off from the steep increases we experienced earlier this month, over the past several weeks, we’ve seen this decrease but we are still in a surge. Our hospitals are still juggling an incredible number of patients, both COVID and otherwise, so please continue to use strong prevention practices.