COVID-19 hospitalizations in Wisconsin on the rise

MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) - For the first time in more than three months, Wisconsin hospitals saw a notable increase in the number of COVID-19 patients being admitted, new Dept. of Health Services figures show.

In a weekly update, Wisconsin health officials reported an upward trajectory for hospitalizations in three of the state’s seven regions, the Northwest, the Northeast, and the Fox Valley. Last week, only the Fox Valley was reported to be growing.

The other four areas, which include western Wisconsin and the south-central part of the state, showed no significant change.

All told, the statewide trajectory has started growing again. The last time the DHS dashboard reported hospitalizations growing was in the second week of January, when the Omicron variant was sweeping through the state and more Wisconsinites were contracting the virus than ever before.

While the trend is rising, neither cases nor the percentage of hospital beds in use approach those January days. Currently, DHS reports 86.8 percent of all beds are occupied and, while average case counts are triple where they were a week or two ago, the number of people testing positive in Wisconsin is a tenth of what it was at the beginning of the year.

DHS’ Wednesday update also snapped an eight-day streak during which the seven-day rolling average for new, confirmed cases increased, surging from 655 cases per day over the preceding week to 1,171 cases per day.

Despite the fact that the 1,524 cases reported Wednesday were equivalent one of the highest single day totals since February, the average slipped to 1,159 cases per day because last Wednesday’s total (1,608) was the highest since cases were falling off their January highs.

Rising cases and, now, hospitalizations still have not been reflected in the COVID-19 death rate. DHS numbers showed that seven-day average slipping back to one per day. The average has never exceeded two per day over the past two weeks.

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