GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) — Hospital Sisters Health Systems, the group that runs Green Bay’s St. Vincent and St. Mary’s hospitals is the latest to sound the alarm over their COVID-19 numbers.
As of Friday there were 303 COVID-19 patients across their hospitals in Wisconsin and Illinois. The previous record, 293, dates back to November 17th, 2020.
“We know that this current COVID spike has many people questioning the effectiveness of the vaccine, but let’s not go there,” said Dr. Marc Shelton, Senior Vice President and Chief Clinical Officer for HSHS. “80% of the patients admitted to the hospital are unvaccinated. Only 20% of the patients being hospitalized with severe illness have been vaccinated or partially vaccinated.”
They say the surge is due to the more-infectious omicron variant of COVID-19.
Ken Nelson is the Chief Nursing Executive for HSHS Wisconsin and he says the demand for testing is high.
“Testing right now is very challenging to get,” Nelson told reporters. “Sometimes people are having to wait several days. Please be patient with us.”
Officials are asking people not to come to the emergency room to get tests.
Despite the high numbers, Shelton says there is hope on the horizon.
“Once we get to the peak, wherever that is, we may see the numbers trend down rapidly, we are hoping,” Shelton said.
That’s because of herd immunity. Shelton says the high amount of recovered infections combined with the number of people vaccinated creates the conditions for a rapid fall in infection rates after the peak.
“So while there’s hope, I definitely believe this is going to be a really rough two or three weeks,” he added.
Shelton expects the surge to last around that long.
HSHS operates seven hospitals in Wisconsin, and another 10 in Central and Southern Illinois.
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