WI COVID-19 Hospitalizations Climb To Nearly 2K After New Year

MILWAUKEE, WI — Wisconsin reached nearly 2,000 COVID-19 coronavirus hospitalizations Monday, just below the peak level seen in November 2020, according to state health services data.

Some 1,903 Wisconsinites were in hospital beds with COVID-19, Wisconsin Hospital Association data showed. The compares with the highest number of residents in hospitals across the state on Nov. 17, 2020, when 2,277 people were hospitalized with the coronavirus.

Case rates in Wisconsin continued to explode: 3,883 people tested positive Sunday, data from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services showed. The seven-day average for new cases was 5,392 new cases per day.

Wisconsin hit another milestone Sunday as the state reported 1,005,150 total cases since the pandemic hit the U.S. in March 2020.

Some 635 Milwaukee County residents were hospitalized, the county's COVID-19 dashboard showed. Some 3,029 people tested positive with the virus Dec. 26, and the county's seven-day average for new cases was around 1,400 new cases per day, county data showed.

The number of hospitalizations set a new pandemic record and represented a nearly 50 percent increase from the previous week, said Dr. Ben Weston, an associate professor at Froedtert Medical College of Wisconsin and the city of Milwaukee's health adviser.

Weston encouraged people to get vaccinated, adding that unvaccinated people will get sicker when infected.

"There are exceptions. Yes, most people do OK. Yes, I see a select population. But the trends are real," Weston said. "They're real in emergency departments and real nationally. The vaccine protects you" from infection, symptoms, hospitalizations and death, he said.