Covid-19 cases are surging in Wisconsin, and “it’s going to get worse,” says Dr. Paul Casey, medical director of the emergency department at a hospital in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
“We predict it will peak mid-November,” he said.
Over the course of three weeks, there has been “an alarming spike” in patients with Covid-19 who need admission to the hospital, he reported.
“What that has done is placed entire wards full of Covid patients on top of all the other patients we have to take care of. Under normal circumstances, hospital capacity is typically 70% to 80%. So you throw on top of that an entire ward of patients with Covid-19, it stretches us to the limit,” he said.
Wisconsin’s seven-day moving average of daily positive cases is 21.8%.
Given his own prediction of the coronavirus crisis worsening in his community, he is anticipating a reduction in non-emergency services.
“We have not yet eliminated needed but non-emergency surgery. So, for example, if you need a hip replacement, that’s not an emergency, but you need it. Those kind of surgeries will have to be delayed until the pandemic is over. We have not gotten there yet, but we’re very, very close.”
Casey also warned that while they’re currently able to take care of all patients that come in, if this surge continues, the system is soon going to be overwhelmed.
“The thing we need the most is for the spread of this virus to stop,” he said. “We have enough PPE, we have enough hospital beds, but that’s soon going to be different.”
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