COVID-19 in Wisconsin is worse than this spring’s virus peak in New York City, state health leaders said Thursday.
Wisconsin announced another record with nearly 7,500 new cases Thursday.
An additional 58 people have died.
Wisconsin Department of Health Services Deputy Secretary Julie Willems Van Dijk said all but eight percent of hospital beds statewide are currently full.
“COVID-19 is everywhere in our state. It is bad everywhere, and it’s getting worse everywhere. It’s straining hospitals and people are dying,” she said.
The Department of Health Services added a new category, Critically High, to classify disease activity in counties. More than 90 percent of counties are Critically High.
“This virus and the death it brings with it are everywhere in this state,” Willems van Dijk said. “COVID-19, its spread, and the strain it’s putting on our hospitals endangers everyone in Wisconsin.”
Gov. Tony Evers warned, without a significant change in the state, 2,500 more people could die by the end of December.
“The science is clear, folks. If we don’t act now, and we don’t treat this pandemic like the urgent crisis it is, Wisconsin could lose thousands more of our friends, family, loved ones, and fellow Wisconsinites by the end of the year,” Evers said.
Early this week, Evers said he would soon introduce a new package of bills aimed at fighting the pandemic and its effects.
But he refused to go into specifics with reporters on Thursday.
