Madison Area Lyme Support Group

By M.D. Kittle

MADISON — Marathon County’s government is proposing a new ordinance to deal with COVID-19, including the use of ankle monitors to keep track of virus “violators.”

The Marathon County Board of Supervisor’s Health and Human Services committee last week passed the new COVID-19 “reactive” rules, and the executive committee is scheduled to take it up Thursday.

Marathon County Corporation Counsel Scott Corbett and Health Officer Joan Theurer, R.N., MSN, recently told supervisors that the proposed ordinance is not intended to be a “Safer at Home Order,” a reference to Gov. Tony Evers’ lockdown edict struck down by the Wisconsin Supreme Court. They took great pains to say the ordinance is “targeted directly” to those who have COVID-19 and businesses and organizations that have workers who test positive for the coronavirus. They say it’s more about communication and education than punishment.

But the language, according to Corbett, includes several levels of quarantining, including what would in essence be a countywide lockdown banning “large gatherings.”

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Important excerpt:

Noncompliance, however, comes with some hefty penalties of “not less than $100 not more than $25,000 per violation.” 

While the officials insist that the county doesn’t have the power to create criminal penalties, the ordinance notes the use of “quarantine guards” with police powers. That includes monitoring of violators. One supervisor in particular sounded excited about the prospects of using ankle bracelets because, “that tells where they are if they’re not at home.”