MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) - Dane Co. Executive Joe Parisi wants the University of Wisconsin-Madison to send all of its undergraduates who are living in its resident halls home for the rest of the semester.
In an open letter to UW System President Tommy Thompson and UW Chancellor Rebecca Blank, Parisi blamed the university for a vast majority of the new cases plaguing the community, noting that the daily infection rate is worse than it has ever been in the county.
He points out that new cases “are running at least five times what they were in late August” and pointed out that nearly three-quarters of the new cases are linked to the university. He also notes that all of those new cases could increase the chances of community spread for the rest of the city as well.
Beyond asking Thompson and Blank to switch to online learning for its undergraduates, he recommends those students quarantine themselves for two weeks to protect their hometown.
“Given the nature of how Covid-19 spreads in group settings, reducing numbers in residence halls will help lower the risk of additional spread,” he argued.
If UW decides against sending most of its students home, he asks that they increase their staffing so they can better support efforts to get students to comply with public health and university directives for preventing the spread of COVID-19.
In addition to going virtual, Parisi also wants the university to establish more on-campus quarantine facilities, triple the number of contact tracers it has within 30 days, and increase the testing capacity on campus.
He concludes by telling Thompson and Blank they opted for in-person classes against recommendations of local and nation experts. He acknowledged the work they put into getting ready for the new semester, but contended the bringing all of these students together has negatively affected the community and the public health system.
“Unfortunately as we have seen across this country and other parts of the globe, this virus willfully spreads whenever the opportunity presents,” he concluded. "We are concerned the well-intentioned goal of having UW open and operating as close to normally as possible will result in opportunity for Covid-19 to spread in our community."
This story was first reported by Nick Viviani at WMTV, NBC 15 in Madison, Wisconsin.