Dane County moves into ‘Phase One’ of reopening plan

MADISON, Wis. — Dane County is in “Phase One” of its “Forward Dane” reopening plan as of 8 a.m. Tuesday.

It’s the first step in a gradual reopening process that allows restaurants, gyms, salons and shops to open up with a limit of 25% their normal indoor capacity. Businesses that do choose to open will also need to follow public health requirements and social distancing guidelines.

The plan says in addition to limiting capacity to 25%, restaurants must space tables at least six feet apart and limit each table to a maximum of six guests. People going to bars can go in groups as long as it’s with people from the same household, and those groups should stay six feet apart inside the bar. Self-service and self-dispensing stations will also remain closed.

Businesses also have the ability to have their own rules for reopening, such as requiring masks, on top of the countywide mandates.

The Forward Dane plan looks at 9 different metrics to determine what can open and when. County health officials will continue to monitor the metrics for the next two weeks before deciding whether businesses can move on to Phase Two, which would increase capacity limits to 50%, among other regulations.

Moving to Phase Two would require more than half of the 9 metrics are considered “green” and none of the epidemiology criteria — percent of positive tests and cases per day — are red.

As of Tuesday morning, 6 of the 9 benchmarks are in the green, while 3 remain yellow. Even if all of the criteria to move on to Phase Two are met early, the soonest Dane County will move into that phase is Tuesday, June 9th.

You can find more information on where the reopening of Dane County stands on Public Health Madison Dane County’s “Forward Dane” website.