MILWAUKEE (SPECTRUM NEWS) — Wisconsin’s latest coronavirus spike broke yet another record Thursday when the state announced 530 people were hospitalized with the virus — the highest number the state has seen during the pandemic.
It was the third record-breaking day in a row, after Tuesday topped the previous high set back in April and Wednesday marked the first time active hospitalizations had surpassed 500, according to the Department of Health Services.
“Folks, we're facing a new and dangerous phase of the COVID-19 pandemic here in Wisconsin,” Gov. Tony Evers said at a Thursday media briefing.
Here, we take a look at some of the data surrounding the recent spike, which comes as case numbers, positivity rates, and activity levels have all been on the rise.
Who is being hospitalized?
More and more of Wisconsin’s cases have been coming from younger age groups. In a statement Tuesday announcing a new public health emergency and face coverings order, Evers attributed much of the recent uptick to students returning to college campuses.
Still, even as these age groups have been driving up overall numbers, hospitalization rates remain relatively low among younger patients.
On Thursday, those in the 20- to 29-year-old age group made up more than a quarter of the state’s total cases, but under 7% of the patients who had ever been hospitalized, according to DHS data. Patients over 50 years old, on the other hand, accounted for less than one-third of all the state’s confirmed cases, but still make up around 72% of its hospitalizations.
When it comes to intensive care, those disproportionate effects become even more stark: Patients older than 50 account for 80% of COVID-19 patients who have received intensive care. Those under 30 only account for about 5% of intensive care patients.
Of course, young adults aren’t immune to the virus: Hundreds have been hospitalized, and nine Wisconsinites in their 20s have died from COVID-19. Plus, state officials have emphasized, even if young, healthy people only face mild symptoms themselves, they can still play a big role in spreading infections to those around them.
“Our campuses don’t exist in a bubble,” Evers said Thursday. “It's critical that we work together now to get this virus under control, not only to protect our campus communities, but for the health and safety of Wisconsinites in every corner of our state.”
Where are these rates going up?
According to DHS analysis, all of Wisconsin’s counties currently have high levels of COVID-19 activity. Those activity levels have also translated to hospitalization increases across the state, though some areas have been hit harder than others.
All of Wisconsin’s seven Healthcare Emergency Readiness Coalition regions have more hospitalized patients now than they did a week ago, as of Thursday's data update.
Proportionally, the Western region has experienced the biggest jump, with hospitalizations up more than 111% from a week ago. There were also major spikes in the neighboring North Central (103%) and Northwest (108%) regions, meaning all three of the regions had seen their numbers more than double in the past week.
The Southeast region, which includes Milwaukee and its surrounding counties, still has the highest overall number of hospitalized patients with almost 200 — though it hasn’t seen as sharp of an incline in the past week.
How does this compare to past spikes?
Hospitalization rates have fluctuated over the months since the pandemic started. For most of the time, active hospitalizations have remained below 400, though a few past upticks have crossed over that threshold.
Compared to the hospitalization spikes in May and August, however, the recent increase has been much steeper: Hospitalized patients have gone up by around 54% since last week. In fact, it’s been the sharpest incline since April, when the state’s coronavirus case count first started to rise.
This week has also marked the first time that more than 500 patients were hospitalized with COVID-19 at once.
How much capacity is left?
Across the state, the DHS reported Thursday that 80% of all licensed hospital beds were occupied.
On a national level, for comparison, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that about 63% of all beds are occupied. This means that compared to the national average, Wisconsin has significantly fewer beds available to take in new patients.
The Fox Valley region was running closest to its maximum capacity, with 87% of hospital beds occupied. And the Northwest had the most beds available, with a 69% occupancy rate.
Some hospitals are feeling the pressure. At a Wednesday press conference, leaders from the Aspirus hospital system said that the COVID-19 ICU at their Wausau location was nearly full, according to WAOW.
“If the trend continues the way it is, we are going to need to take additional actions across our region, not just at Aspirus but at other facilities as well,” said Jesse Tischer, Senior Vice President at Aspirus Wausau Hospital.
Still, over the course of the pandemic, hospitals have become more prepared in some ways to handle COVID-19 cases.
The state has added more than 1,000 ventilators since April, according to data from the Wisconsin Hospital Association. As of Thursday's update, 371 patients were on ventilators, leaving 1,930 still available for use.
Hospitals also have more PPE supplies than in the spring. On March 30, for example, the WHA reports that 141 hospitals didn’t have enough N95 masks to last a week. Now, only six hospitals lack a week’s supply of the masks.
Doctors have also learned more about the best ways to treat COVID-19 patients, said Ryan Westergaard, chief medical officer for the DHS Bureau of Communicable Diseases, at Thursday’s briefing.
With more information about anti-inflammatory and antiviral drugs, specialists feel they have “a better-equipped toolkit” for treating patients, Westergaard said. And deaths in the state haven’t yet seen a sustained increase from the recent spike.
Still, DHS Secretary-designee Andrea Palm warned that “the new realities of COVID-19 in Wisconsin are stark,” and that with fall flu season approaching, it’s especially important to drive down the spread.
“Our frontline healthcare workers and our hospital systems are going to have to not only treat what they see on a regular basis, plus COVID, they now are faced with a flu season, which does always result in hospitalizations and deaths,” Palm said. “The numbers we've seen in recent days in hospitalizations are concerning, and it again emphasizes why it's important to act now.”