MILWAUKEE — While cases of COVID-19 continue to climb again in Wisconsin, hospitalizations have remained low, and various health care experts say that's just one reason for optimism as the pandemic continues.

"What we're seeing right now is an uptick in positive cases of COVID, but thankfully we're not seeing an increase in the number of hospitalizations and ER visits," Mo Kharbat, SSM Health's Vice President of Pharmacy Services, said. "While there are more infections out there, they're not severe enough to need hospital stays or advanced medical care."

After the Wisconsin Department of Health Services confirmed another 896 cases of COVID-19 on Monday, Wisconsin's daily statewide average again topped 1,000 cases to 1,071, but Kharbat maintains that because of effective vaccinations and the emergence of post-infection treatments, Wisconsin is in a much better and safer place than even a few months ago.

"Omicron and its subvariants— it does not lead to serious illness like we saw with Delta and other variants," Kharbat added. "The nature of the virus and the way it effects the human body is not [what we saw] with Delta, for example."

You can watch the entire interview above.