Local Covid-19

On an average day, Aspirus is treating 125 COVID-19 patients in their homes.

The healthcare system is using different technologies to help keep hospital beds free.

Aspirus Senior Vice President Jesse Tischer said Friday they’ve now treated well-over 1,000 patients from home.

He said this is just one way Aspirus has been able to treat more people along with antibodies therapies.
Like many people, Tischer is happy about the news of a vaccine, but warns we still have a long road ahead of us and importance of following COVID safety guidelines.

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services reported the seven-day average of daily confirmed COVID cases in Wisconsin is lower now than it was a month ago.

But testing numbers have also dropped.

“That is concerning,” said DHS Secretary Designee Andrea Palm. “With our positivity rate as high as it is, we know we are not testing enough people to get an accurate picture of the virus here in Wisconsin.”

Despite a drop in daily confirmed cases, many hospitals are still overwhelmed.

Gov. Tony Evers says he will “absolutely” take a COVID-19 vaccine when his turn comes.

The governor said during a news conference Monday that he and his wife, Kathy, will get inoculated as soon as they're allowed. Federal officials are set to meet Thursday to discuss emergency authorization for a vaccine developed by Pfizer.

Meanwhile, the number of infections and deaths in Wisconsin continues to climb. State health officials reported 4,114 newly confirmed cases and 68 more deaths on Monday.

Wisconsin is set to receive 49,725 doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine once it’s approved by the FDA.

Those will be the first of two rounds of vaccine need for immunization from COVID-19.

Those doses are being prioritized to frontline health care workers and long-term care residents.

Within that, DHS is relying on the State Disaster Medical Advisory Committee to determine who gets priority.

There are just about no aspects of life that have not been impacted the COVID-19 pandemic.

For many farmers it’s meant drops in price for product they sell and a disruption in the supply chain.

“Everybody remembers the news footage of milk being dumped in the spring or produce being plowed under because there was no market for it,” said USDA’s Wisconsin Farm Service Agency Executive Director Sandy Chalmers.

She says aid farmers have already gotten for pandemic relief has made a huge difference.

As early as next week, Lakeland Union High School will no longer require students who come in close contact with a COVID 19-infected person to home quarantine for 14 days before returning to school, according to a school official.

District administrator Rob Way announced the timeline Wednesday after the school board voted 6-3 Monday to adopt the new covid protocol presented by school nurse Kathy Reimer. Nine parents also spoke out against the current policy of two weeks home quarantine for contact traced students.

Gov. Tony Evers is telling President Donald Trump and the state’s congressional delegation that Wisconsin needs $466 million by April to pay for vaccine distribution, coronavirus testing, contact tracing, hospitals and a public health awareness campaign. 

State health officials say Wisconsin is ready to begin distributing coronavirus vaccines by mid-December, when it hopes to receive nearly 50,000 doses.

Department of Health Services spokeswoman Elizabeth Goodsitt says the state will work with 97 local health departments and tribal jurisdictions, as well as health care providers, pharmacies, community-based organizations and other public agencies to distribute the vaccine.

One hundred seven more Wisconsinites died of COVID-19 in the last 24-hour reporting period, setting yet another state record, leaders announced on Tuesday.

It’s the second time the daily death count has surpassed 100.

State leaders again pleaded with people to take action to control the spread of the virus.

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services is reporting another 1,300 cases Friday. That’s the lowest daily case county in more than a month.

DHS said there could be delays in test results because of the holiday.

Another 17 people have died.

Between Oneida, Vilas, and Forest Counties more than 4,000 people have tested positive and nearly 60 people have died since the start of the pandemic.

All counties in our region except for Iron County is at “Critically High” activity level.

You can find the break down for all counties below.

Wisconsin has set another record for coronavirus deaths. 

The state Department of Health Services reported Tuesday that the virus was a factor in another 104 deaths. That breaks the old record of 92 daily deaths set on Nov. 17.

The virus has now been a factor in 3,115 deaths since the pandemic began in March.

The DHS also reported another 6,202 confirmed cases.

The state has now seen 363,973 cases since March. The seven-day average of positive tests was 28.7% as of Monday, down from 36.5% last week.

Wisconsin nursing homes have seen a spike in COVID-19-related deaths, with nearly 300 reported during a recent four-week span.

Data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services show 294 residents died of the virus between Oct. 12 and Nov. 8.

The figure is more than 10 times the 28 deaths that were reported in the previous month. The number of cases in nursing homes has also surged.

In the latest reporting period, nursing homes reported 2,130 residents with new COVID-19 cases, up from 387 new cases in the preceding four-week period.