RISING CASES tax hospitals in Wisconsin.

Corps of engineers setting up field unit outside Milwaukee

MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin health officials announced Wednesday that a field hospital will open next week at the state fairgrounds near Milwaukee as a surge in covid-19 cases threatens to overwhelm hospitals.

Wisconsin has become a hot spot for the disease over the past month, ranking third nationwide this week in new cases per capita over the past two weeks. Health experts have attributed the spike to the reopening of colleges and K-12 schools, as well as general fatigue over wearing masks and socially distancing.

State Department of Health Services Secretary Andrea Palm told reporters during a video conference that the field hospital will open on Oct. 14.

“We hoped this day wouldn’t come, but unfortunately, Wisconsin is in a much different, more dire place today and our healthcare systems are beginning to become overwhelmed by the surge of covid-19 cases,” Democratic Gov. Tony Evers said in a statement. “This alternative care facility will take some of the pressure off our healthcare facilities while expanding the continuum of care for folks who have covid-19.”

The move also came as a state judge was considering a lawsuit seeking to strike down Evers’ mandate that masks be worn in enclosed public spaces. The governor on Tuesday issued new restrictions on the size of indoor public gatherings through Nov. 6.

Virus spread is particularly rampant in northeastern Wisconsin. The Green Bay Packers announced this week that no home fans would be admitted to home games until the situation improved, and head coach Matt LaFleur asked area residents to wear masks and practice social distancing.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers built a 530- bed field hospital on the state fairgrounds in West Allis just outside Milwaukee in April at the request of Evers’ administration. Local leaders had warned about the possibility of area hospitals being overwhelmed, but hospitalizations never reached the point where the hospital was needed until now.

The hospital will accept patients from across Wisconsin but is designed to provide low-level care, and it will accept only patients who have already been hospitalized elsewhere for at least 24-48 hours, according to the state Department of Administration. In other developments:

▪ Eli Lilly & Co., an Indianapolis-based pharmaceutical giant, has approached the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for authorization of the treatment it’s developing with Canadian biotech AbCellera Biologics Inc., according to a statement Wednesday. It would allow high-risk patients recently diagnosed with mild-to-moderate covid-19 to receive the therapy. Data has shown the treatment reduced hospitalizations. Antibodies from Lilly and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. could provide a powerful addition to the handful of treatments doctors are now using to treat covid-19.

▪ The next phase of the Boston Public Schools reopening plan was delayed Wednesday because the city’s coronavirus positivity rate has climbed higher than 4%, Mayor Marty Walsh said. Preschoolers and kindergartners who were scheduled to report to school the week of Oct. 15 instead will now start Oct. 22.

▪ The Florida Department of Health on Wednesday reported that a total of 15,084 people have died from covid-19 complications in the state. These confirmed fatalities include 14,904 residents plus 180 people from other states who died there.

▪ U.S. District Judge Keith Watkins on Tuesday refused to temporarily block Alabama’s mask mandate and other state health orders issued during the pandemic. The temporary restraining order was requested by plaintiffs represented by former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore. Gov. Kay Ivey last week extended the state mask order through Nov. 8.

▪ Italy imposed a nationwide outdoor mask mandate Wednesday with fines of up to $1,100 for violators.

▪ Israeli police clashed with hundreds of ultra-Orthodox Jews overnight as they sought to enforce restrictions on public gatherings during a nationwide coronavirus lockdown, the police said Wednesday. Footage released by police showed large crowds of ultra-Orthodox Jews in Jerusalem chanting and hurling stones and metal bars at police officers. The police said 17 people were arrested.