Wisconsinites With Compromised Immune Systems Still At Risk As COVID-19 Trends Down

WISCONSIN — COVID-19 cases are trending down after a spike in Wisconsin cases, and some organizations are lifting mask requirements, but Wisconsinites with compromised immune systems still have to navigate severe risks, officials said.

Wisconsin cases are in free fall after the state's largest spike in January 2022. Cases reached 1,602 new cases on Tuesday, Wisconsin Department of Health Services data showed.

The University of Wisconsin System and Summerfest announced they will lift masking requirements in the summer and spring. University system interim president Tommy Thompson said that restrictions would be lifted as statewide cases dropped.

However, the virus still poses a risk of hospitalization and death for some Wisconsin residents: Bella Pape, a 13-year-old from Cedarburg, had fought a rare genetic disorder for her entire life until she died from the coronavirus on Monday.

Pape's family pleaded for people to "take (COVID-19) seriously" and to protect themselves and each other in a GoFundMe set up to cover funeral costs.

See Also: 'Take Covid Seriously,' Family Says Of Girl Who Died Of The Virus

The girl had been vaccinated against the disease, but was in the late stages of renal failure and recently had a liver transplant, Milwaukee County Medical Examiner's Office records showed.

People with compromised immune systems, like those going through chemotherapy or organ transplants, don't have as much of a robust response to vaccination as opposed to people with healthy immune systems, pediatric infectious disease specialist at University of Wisconsin Health and UnityPoint Health Meriter Dr. Joseph McBride told Patch.

However, those with compromised immune systems have a severe risk of hospitalization and death from a breakthrough or primary COVID-19 infection, McBride added.

"People with compromised immune systems live in a different world than people with healthy immune systems," McBride told Patch. "Interactions are different and riskier. Just going to the grocery store is different." Patients have to calculate risks in daily activities — even taking the elevator on the way to a doctor appointment can risk contracting a disease from someone else.

"They don't have the luxury of being as cavalier with the virus," McBride said.

Policies and recommendations made by local governments and health agencies can turn into a month-to-month thing because of growing knowledge of coronavirus and realities of the virus, McBride said. Unexpected changes in case amounts can lead to the municipalities enacting new masking policies and vice versa.

These changes can be tricky for the immunocompromised, who face dangers regardless of what mitigation policies are in place.

Medical experts agree that COVID-19 could become endemic in the coming years, meaning cases sporadically coming up and down but not totally gone. But that hinges on the absence of another variant coming along.

"There's no assumption we've won and this is over," McBride said.

See Also: Could COVID-19 Become Endemic? WI Experts Weigh In

McBride said more children have been admitted for multisystem inflammatory syndrome, a condition where body parts can become inflamed and affect organ function. Experts aren't sure what causes the syndrome, but many children with it had the virus that causes COVID-19, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

"We have good treatment for this condition, but it's not less scary," for providers, parents and children, McBride said.

Despite the dangerous situation people with weakened immune systems face in the pandemic, some new treatments like oral antiviral medication and long-lasting forms of monoclonal antibodies are being introduced, McBride told Patch. But the No. 1 tool to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and protect others is to get vaccinated, he added.

"We have a tool in place to prevent this. If we had a tool to prevent other pediatric deaths, like car accidents, cancer or sepsis, what a wonderful thing that would be," McBride said.