BROWN COUNTY, Wis (NBC 26) -- The warning of a potentially deadly surge of COVID-19 in Wisconsin was vocally expressed by Governor Tony Evers just over 40 days ago, on November 11th.
"The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation estimates 5-thousand Wisconsinites could be lost to COVID-19 by January 1st if no further actions are taken to get this under control," said Governor Evers during a press conference in mid-November.
In the time since Governor Evers made the statement, COVID-19 related deaths have almost doubled in Wisconsin. As of November 11th, 2,457 people across the state had died from COVID-19 related illnesses. The total of deaths related to the disease as of December 23rd is 4,614 people.
On Tuesday, Wisconsin healthcare leaders saw the state's deadliest day of the pandemic. DHS reported 120 COVID-19 related deaths across the state of Wisconsin.
"The deaths increase that you saw yesterday is really what you call a lagging indicator. Most of the death we see at the hospital doesn't happen with COVID, when you roll through the doors. It's people who have been in the ICU for weeks or even months," says Dr. Ashok Rai the President and CEO of Prevea Health.
Dr. Rai says the state may very well be on the verge of a third surge, of COVID-19 cases in the coming weeks.
"It's slightly ramping up a little bit as far as hospital admissions go."
A potential contributing factor according to Dr. Rai, is that fewer people are getting tested for the virus now. The Department of Health Services reports there has been about a 50 percent drop in the average number of people using COVID-19 testing sites today than there was in mid-November. With fewer people opting to test for the virus, the DHS also reports that the seven-day average of positive cases reported sits at the lowest point since October.
"You always want to celebrate when you see people not having COVID. And we're very excited about that. We are concerned though that not enough people are coming in for testing.... We're hoping everybody with symptoms gets tested right away. Even if you don't have symptoms here in Brown County you can be tested," says Dr. Rai.
