Wisconsin GOP leaders praise state's vaccination efforts

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos called on the state's business community to “step up” and return workers to offices around the Fourth of July, joining Wednesday with the state Senate's top Republican in praising the state's coronavirus vaccination efforts.

Vos and Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu offered rare praise for Democratic Gov. Tony Evers' administration, giving it credit for increasing vaccinations. During the virtual event hosted by Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, the state’s largest business lobbying group, they also pushed for a return to pre-pandemic work routines.

“We don't keep people going through all this rigmarole, which was necessary for a certain amount of time, but we're now moving beyond it," Vos said. "It's up to the business community to step up with government to show the world that we can safely reopen and not have this pandemic hangover really impact our economy going forward in way that none of us want.”

Vos’s call for people to return to offices echoes President Joe Biden earlier this month raising the possibility of beginning to “mark our independence from this virus” by the Fourth of July.

“That’s the date that I’m looking at,” Vos said. “Kind of that, really, kick start of summer where the vast majority of people want to be outside, they want to go to events, they want to get past the pandemic.”

Although the U.S. coronavirus landscape has brightened considerably since the start of vaccinations, infection rates have recently jumped in some states, including Michigan, and public health experts warn at every opportunity that relaxing social distancing and other measures could easily lead to another surge.

Wisconsin's increasing vaccination rate, and its continued drops in new cases, hospitalizations and deaths are all...