COVID-19 cases continue decline as death toll nears 4,000
As the number of new COVID-19 cases and hospitalized patients continued to decline Friday in Wisconsin, a new report showed nursing home deaths in the state are reaching new heights and Milwaukee’s Veterans Affairs hospital said it is preparing for a vaccine shipment.
The seven-day average of new daily cases has dropped 45% from an all-time high in mid-November, and the number of COVID-19 patients in hospital care in the state has dropped 36%.
The state Department of Health Services on Friday reported 3,858 new cases and 47 deaths, bringing the death toll to 3,991.
The average number of new daily cases over the last seven days was 3,628, which is down 2,356 cases from one month ago.
The average daily death toll over the last seven days was 52, up nine from one month ago.
And as of Friday, there were 1,448 people hospitalized with the virus, including 328 patients in intensive care units, down 654 patients from one month ago.
The average positivity rate — firsttime positive tests over the last seven days — was 28.1% Friday.
Death toll nears 4,000 as hospitals continue to struggle
Deaths from COVID-19 lag newly reported cases, as it takes time for infected people to fall seriously ill.
State health officials on Thursday said they were hopeful the decline in cases seen since mid-November would hold, eventually prompting deaths to begin to decline, too, but they worried a dip in testing since Thanksgiving could indicate many new cases are going undetected.
Deaths from the virus continue to mount unimpeded. The seven-day average for daily COVID-19 deaths has remained fairly steady all week since hitting a record high of 61 Monday. It has stayed at or above 40 since Nov. 6.
The state is nine deaths away from 4,000 total COVID-19 deaths since the pandemic began. Wisconsin passed 2,000 deaths on Halloween and 3,000 just three weeks later on Nov. 21.
The state will likely pass the 4,000 mark Saturday — recording the most recent 1,000 deaths in three weeks’ time as well.
While the number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients is down statewide, hospitals continue to struggle with severe staffing shortages and capacity issues.
In the 12-county north central region of Wisconsin, just eight ICU beds were available Friday, according to Wisconsin Hospital Association data. In the 15 counties of the northwest region, six ICU beds were open.
Meanwhile in the Rock County Jail, 71 inmates have tested positive for COVID-19 after two inmates reported symptoms Tuesday and the sheriff ’s office ordered tests of the entire jail population. Tests from 43 inmates returned negative, and 99 others were awaiting results.
Nursing home deaths, cases reach record highs
As the state struggles with its rising death toll, a new report indicates Wisconsin nursing home residents are contracting COVID-19 and dying from the virus at record-high levels.
Cases have also shot up among nursing home workers.
An online dashboard from AARP on Friday showed 2.11 COVID-19 deaths for every 100 nursing home residents in the four-week period of Oct. 19 to Nov. 15.
It’s the highest since the federal government started collecting the information and more than seven times the rate of 0.3 recorded in the previous fourweek period.
In the same time frame, there were 13.4 new cases for every 100 residents, more than three times the rate in the previous four-week period.
Wisconsin also had the sixth-highest rate of COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes among all 50 states, according to the dashboard, which was developed by the AARP Public Policy Institute and Scripps Gerontology Center at Miami University in Ohio.
VA hospital will receive shipment of vaccine
The Clement J. Zablocki Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Milwaukee is one of 37 VA medical centers that will be getting an allotment of the COVID-19 vaccine, said Kim Bell, chief of pharmacy for the hospital.
The allotment is separate from that for the state.
The VA hospital does not know how many does it will receive or when.
It received a freezer, roughly the size of a kitchen refrigerator, capable of storing the vaccine at the necessary 112 degrees below zero Fahrenheit last week.
The hospital will follow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines on who should be given the vaccine first, Bell said.
Priority is expected to be given to employees who work in high-risk areas, such as the hospital’s COVID-19 unit. Residents of its nursing home and patients in its spinal cord unit, who have more contact with health care workers, also are expected to be given priority.
“We just continue to plan so that we are ready to go when we can,” Bell said.
Also next week, the Washington Ozaukee Public Health Department will open two new free community testing sites to replace the National Guard’s testing operations in the two counties.
The new locations, opening Dec. 15, are Washington County Fair Park & Conference Center, 3000 Highway PV in West Bend, and Ozaukee County Fairgrounds, W67-N866 Washington Ave. in Cedarburg.
The hours at both sites are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday.
Guy Boulton and Cathy Kozlowicz of the Journal Sentinel and Jake Prinsen of the USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin contributed to this report.
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