Oct. 8, 2020 9p; Updated at 10:55p
(WGTD)---First the bad news.
New reports of COVID-19 in Wisconsin have once again hit a record high, with 3,132 cases reported Thursday.
Kenosha and Racine counties reported some of their highest daily case numbers since the pandemic began. 57 new cases were reported in Kenosha County; 85 in Racine County.
Kenosha Unified Thursday reported the highest number of infections among students and staff since the semester began on Sept. 14th with a blend of in-person and virtual instruction. Six new cases were reported, bringing the total to 46. Two of the new cases came from Tremper High School, which leads the district with a total of 9 cases.
State officials said the number of coronavirus hospitalizations continues to grow. 907 were reported statewide Thursday. A month ago, fewer than 200 people were hospitalized because of the virus.
On the positive side, Froedtert Kenosha Hospital--the former Kenosha Medical Center off of Sheridan Rd. near downtown Kenosha--is not seeing a surge in new COVID patients, at least not yet. "We have not seen the kind of volume we originally were thinking that we were going to see," said Linda Wohlgemuth, Senior Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer of Froedtert South, which also includes the Froedtert hospital off of Highway 50 in Pleasant Prairie.
Froedtert in Kenosha County treats all of its COVID-19 patients on a floor in the downtown campus.
On Thursday, seven of the unit's 15 beds were filled.
Wohlgemuth says if necessary a second floor could be opened to treat coronavirus patients, something that was considered in mid-April but then rejected as not being needed.
Wohlgemuth, who is not a physician, says that while deaths are still occurring patients on the whole seem to be not as sick as they once were when the pandemic first broke out. She attributes that to new treatment protocols that were put in place as doctors gradually learned more about the disease.
She urges citizens to follow the proper precautions to avoid spreading and getting the virus. She also says residents should not damage their overall health by putting off other care because of a fear of catching COVID at a medical facility. At Froedtert South, all patients are presumed to have the virus until testing otherwise.
On Thursday, a total of 13 patients were hospitalized for the virus in Kenosha County, according to Kenosha County health officer Jen Freiheit. In August, that number ranged between two and four. At its highest level in spring, the Kenosha County in-patient count ranged between 20 and 22.
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