Sept. 30, 2020 3:40p
(WPR/AP)---The chief medical officer for the Wisconsin Hospital Association told the state's largest business group Wednesday that unless Wisconsin begins to slow the spread of COVID-19, more people will die, hospitals will be stressed, more businesses will fail and more schools and institutions will close down.
The WHA's Mark Kaufman also warned members of Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce that the pandemic was now so severe in Wisconsin that regardless of what happens over the next couple weeks, the situation would get worse before it gets better.
"If everybody in Wisconsin behaved perfectly over the next two weeks, those hospitalization numbers would get higher," Kaufman said. "It is going to be a rocky two or three months. We all need to, right now, buckle down."
Kaufman's warning comes as Wisconsin hit a new record high for deaths. Health officials reported 27 deaths on Wednesday.
Wisconsin hospital officials report they're close to being overwhelmed by COVID-19 patients, forcing doctors to transfer patients to other facilities and build waiting lists. The Wisconsin Hospital Association and state health officials reported a record 737 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized as of Wednesday.
Officials at Bellin Hospital in Green Bay say their facility is at 94% capacity. Aspirus Healthcare President and CEO Matthew Heywood says the Wausau hospital has seen a 30% jump in COVID-19 patients between Monday and Tuesday. The hospital has developed a waiting list that runs from several hours to a full day.
Kaufman blamed a lack of individual and collective compliance with public health measures that are known to work to control the pandemic, specifically masking, physical distancing and hygiene. He said the return to in-person instruction at University of Wisconsin campuses around the state had also been a factor in sparking the increased cases.
Kaufman said that unless people take the pandemic more seriously, the consequences would be dire.
"There will be more patients and more Wisconsin citizens critically ill with COVID-19," Kaufman said. "More of us will die in Wisconsin from COVID-19."
"I believe that the economy will worsen as we all have to hunker down even further," he said. "There will be more business failures and more personal financial failures."
While some school districts in Wisconsin have already shifted to an all-virtual format to start the year, Kaufman said others would soon be forced to follow.
"Closing of schools will become more common, and societal institutions and gatherings and things that are going on right now, such as potentially Big 10 football, will all be shut down," Kaufman said.
Kaufman said that already, Wisconsin hospitals were tightly managing admissions, creating extra bed space and matching patient needs to hospital resources.
"Many hospitals are approaching what we call peak capacity," Kaufman said.
Kaufman said it was within peoples' power to slow the spread of COVID-19.
"Masking works. Physical distancing works. Good personal hygiene works. This is basic science. It's not a political issue. It should not be a political issue," he said.
While some parts of the state are experiencing especially high numbers of COVID-19 cases, Kaufman stressed that numbers were up everywhere.
"No part of the state is untouched," he said. "The bottom line is we are doing very poorly compared to other states and to our previous performance."
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