76% of 109 patients on Nov. 17 were unvaccinated; 29 required ICU-level care
For the Tomahawk Leader
WISCONSIN – Aspirus Health announced on Wednesday, Nov. 17 that it had seen an increase in COVID-19 positivity rates earlier this month.
“National COVID-19 cases are trending upward as outbreaks in the Midwest and Northeast are contributing to the rising numbers,” Aspirus said in a release. “This correlates with what Aspirus Health is seeing in its testing numbers.”
According to the release, the positivity rate of COVID-19 tests processed at the Aspirus Reference Lab increased for the third straight week during the week of Sunday, Nov. 7, when 17.6% of tests came back positive, Aspirus’s highest positivity rate since Jan. 2021.
“Typically, the higher the case number, the higher that prevalence or positivity rate translates to more patients requiring hospitalization,” said Susan Schneider, MD, Aspirus System Senior System Physician Executive of Primary Care. “And we really are seeing those numbers especially with this latest Delta variant. There seems to be a higher transmission rate, younger, healthier people are requiring hospitalization because they are developing severe COVID.”
“The Delta variant also causes more infections and spreads faster than earlier forms of the virus that cause COVID-19,” Aspirus said. “It is also suspected to cause more severe illness than previous strains in unvaccinated people, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).”
Aspirus had 106 patients hospitalized for COVID-19 throughout its system on Wednesday, Nov. 17. Of those patients, 76% were not fully vaccinated and 29 required ICU-level care, Aspirus said.
“I really think there’s a disconnect with what’s happening in the perception out in the community versus what’s happening within our health system, as well as actually the rest of the health systems across the state,” Dr. Schneider stated. “This pandemic has been going on for a long time, and people are tired of it and really want to get back to normal life, but that’s not really what we’re seeing in the health care system.”
Aspirus noted that protective measures are available to those who plan to travel and/or gather during the holiday season.
“I think the simplest, the safest and the most effective thing to do is get vaccinated,” Dr. Schneider said. “The vaccines are safe. They’re very effective. They prevent you from getting sick and for those people who still do get sick after vaccination, they’re less likely to develop severe COVID symptoms which could require hospitalization or even end up in death.”
Data from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) show significantly higher rates of infection, hospitalization and death among individuals who are not fully vaccinated against COVID-19. These rates in Sept. 2021 were five times higher for infection, nine times higher for hospitalization and 19 times higher for death.