Increase is largely among unvaccinated, Advocate Aurora official says
By Jason Arndt
Staff Writer
Advocate Aurora Health on Tuesday reported a sharp increase in hospital admissions for COVID-19 in the last week primarily because of the more infectious delta variant among unvaccinated people.
The health care provider, which is the parent company of Aurora Medical Center in Burlington, said Tuesday the number of patients hospitalized under its care network across Wisconsin and Illinois has risen by 5.9% within the previous seven days.
Mike Ripoell, media relations manager of Advocate Aurora Health, did not specifically note the total number of people hospitalized at the Burlington facility.
However, in Wisconsin, Advocate Aurora Health saw 190% increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations in the last month with 168 people admitted into its hospitals.
“As a health system, we’re treating approximately 10 times as many COVID-19 patients in the hospital as we did during July’s low point,” officials stated.
Advocate Aurora in a news release further stated the surge is largely attributed to unvaccinated people infected with the delta variant, and in turn, spreading the more contagious mutation to others.
As of Tuesday, the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene reported 2,587 cases of the delta variant through genetic sequencing of some positive tests, an increase of 31% from a week earlier.
On Aug. 24, according to this newspaper’s records, the state registered 1,964 positive cases tied to the delta variant.
Dr. Robert Citronberg, executive medical director of infectious disease and prevention for Aurora, said vaccinations are key to abating COVID-19 cases and related hospitalizations.
“The best way to reverse these trends is for people to be vaccinated, as the vast majority of those hospitalized with COVID-19 have not been,” he said.
The seven-day averages statewide increased from 1,369 new cases per day on Aug. 24 to 1,667 as of Tuesday while average deaths remained unchanged at eight per day.
According to the state Department of Health Services database, as of Tuesday, 92.4% of hospital beds and 93.6% of ICU beds in Southeast Wisconsin were in use.
The number of COVID hospitalizations in the southeastern region of the state as of Tuesday was 389, which is on par with the number of hospitalizations on Jan. 20.
For the full story, including COVID-19 infection numbers for Racine County, see the Sept. 2 edition of the Burlington Standard Press.
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