RACINE — The Safer Racine ordinance is back in effect in the City of Racine.

A Wisconsin Court of Appeals ordered Friday afternoon that the ordinance can remain in effect, at least for the time being, as the city’s appeal is argued in court. Judge Paul Reilly is the presiding in the case.

“It will be enforced,” Mayor Cory Mason said when he announced the appeals court’s decision just before 3 p.m. Friday. “The appeals court has put a stay in place, putting the Safer Racine ordinance back in place to prevent the spread of coronavirus here in our community … Going into the Fourth of July weekend, we still do have these local restrictions in place. They are critically important to protect public health.”

The ordinance had been overturned Wednesday when Racine County Circuit Court Judge Jon Fredrickson ruled that the Safer Racine ordinance “is unconstitutionally vague and overbroad, and is unenforceable as drafted.”

The Safer Racine ordinance may still be overturned by the Appeals Court, but the court is allowing it to remain in place while the court case progresses.

Among the rules in place, now that the Appeals Court has ordered its stay allowing Safer Racine to be legally enforceable, are:

• Restaurants and bars being limited to 50% of max capacity.
• Retailers being required to follow additional guidelines laid out by the

Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation

• regarding cleaning procedures and social distancing.
• Gyms and other fitness facilities being limited to 25% of their maximum capacity or a maximum of 10 people inside at any time.

The rule regarding gyms sparked the lawsuit in question. It was filed on behalf of David Yandel, who owns Harbor Park CrossFit, 3801 Blue River Ave., and has said that his business dropped by more than 25% since Racine’s order went into place.

Constant changes

The ordinance had been ruled to be functionally identical to the order issued by the local health department, which had been overturned for being an overstepping of the powers granted to the city’s health commissioner, Dottie-Kay Bowersox. The ordinance was approved by a 9-5 vote by the City Council two weeks ago.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled on May 13 that the statewide “Safer at Home” order was unenforceable; that order was drafted by the governor’s office and Department of Health Services and was not approved by a direct legislative vote. The Safer Racine order should be treated differently because it was passed by the City Council and not by an unelected administrator, the city’s legal team is arguing.

No states other than Wisconsin have seen statewide orders overturned by the courts. Rules are getting stricter in some states as spikes occur.

In Chicago

• , travelers will have to quarantine for two weeks if they fly in from one of 15 states where coronavirus counts are high.
• Bars and restaurants in multiple

California counties have been ordered to close

• by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

In New Mexico

• , people are required to wear masks while in public.

Racine no longer ranks among the top 10 communities in the nation for the spread of the novel coronavirus, as it did in early May, but Mason has still expressed fear that it could spike again.

“We are seeing cases spike across the country and across the state of Wisconsin,” Mason said.

On Friday, Mason said that a 26th City of Racine resident has died from COVID, noting that that death means that “We are not through this yet. People are still dying from it. We need everybody’s participation for this to work.”

According to the Department of Health Services, as of Friday, 65 Racine County residents have died from COVID-19. Statewide, 796 Wisconsinites have died from the highly infectious virus.