Wisconsin’s top health official says we’ve learned a lot since COVID’s early days. Department of Health Services Secretary-designee Kirtsen Johnson recently noted the toll of the pandemic.
“Almost 17,000 people have died in Wisconsin from COVID since 2020,” she told the state Senate Health Committee last week.
Johnson – who was Washington Ozaukee Public Health Department director at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic was questioned during a confirmation hearing
“We certainly made mistakes. Part of this is it was a novel virus, we didn’t know what we didn’t know. And we were making the best decisions we could out of a host of bad decisions. Would I make some of those same decisions today? Absolutely not.”
Johnson told the committee that she would not support vaccine mandates, but still recommends them. “People need to evaluate their own risk. I’m personally vaccinated, my children are vaccinated, my parents are vaccinated, I would highly recommend everyone gets vaccinated.’
Johnson also said she wouldn’t support future mask mandates, but that at-risk individuals should continue to wear them.