Ex-teacher schools town officials on mask-wearing

The Port Washington Town Board got schooled by retired teacher John Taucher Monday.

Taucher, a town resident who frequently attends board meetings, told the board that he was dismayed that officials have not been wearing masks to limit the spread of the coronavirus.

“I don’t want to come to a Petri dish,” Taucher said. “There are a lot of people getting this. I’m very vulnerable to this kind of stuff at my age.”

Four people living in the Rolling Hills subdivision, where he resides, have the disease, Taucher said.

“It’s nothing to fool with,” he said. “There are 207,000 people dead from it (across the country) already. It just worries me.”

According to the Washington Ozaukee Public Health Department, Ozaukee County had 1,549 people who tested positive for Covid-19 as of Tuesday. The number of active cases in the county was 259, and the hospitalization rate was 6.7%.

Another 19,316 people tested negative for the disease, and 19 people have died of Covid-19, according to the health department.

There is a limited number of things people can do to avoid the spread of the disease, Taucher said, including wearing masks and social distancing.

“You have two people here wearing a mask,” he said, referring to himself and a Press reporter. “We’re in enclosed quarters. I think you have the authority to exercise a little more care.”

Town Chairman Mike Didier, who acknowledged he had the coronavirus this summer, said he carries a mask and wears it when asked.

Didier suggested the town have disposable masks on hand for people attending meetings, and said the town might need to set a policy about their use.

With the exception of Supr. Gary Schlenvogt, who said a medical condition keeps him from wearing a mask, town officials had donned face coverings by the end of Taucher’s comments, which came during the public comment portion of the agenda.

The town recently installed plastic dividers between officials seated at the front of the board room.

Given the surging number of Covid-19 cases in Wisconsin, Gov. Tony Evers on Sept. 22 issued a new statewide mask mandate, in effect extending the existing mandate on wearing face coverings until Nov. 21.