US: Two million masks to be sent to Wisconsin schools

Gov. Tony Evers says the state will be distributing more than 2 million cloth masks and more than 4,200 infrared thermometers to K-12 schools, and about 60,000 masks to local food processors and businesses.

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Wisconsin has nearly doubled in a little over a month. It took five months to get 16,500 confirmed cases, and since Memorial Day there have been nearly 17,000 confirmed cases. Testing has increased as well.

All Dane County residents will be required to wear masks when indoors under the first order of its kind issued Tuesday in Wisconsin as deaths from COVID-19 surpassed 800 statewide and confirmed cases again increased, particularly among young adults.

Evers, a Democrat, said he was considering at a statewide mask mandate, but after the Wisconsin Supreme Court struck down his "safer at home" order in May, a new one requiring masks to be worn is "unlikely."

The order from Public Health Madison and Dane County takes effect Monday. It's the first community to issue a mask requirement in Wisconsin, but it's unlikely to be the last. Milwaukee is also discussing taking similar steps.

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