GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Coronavirus numbers have been trending down lately in Wisconsin. And, Dr. Brad Burmeister with Bellin Health says it’s a welcome sight for health care providers.
He says while new cases are still high, local hospitalizations have been decreasing.
He says this is because of two reasons: One, the number of people who are vaccinated or recently had an infection is high and people seem to be taking precautions when out in public, such as mask wearing and social distancing.
With the omicron variant seemingly in the rear-view window, some wonder what the next variant will be like.
The BA.2 strain, nicknamed “stealth omicron,” has popped up throughout the U.S. and Wisconsin recently.
At this point, experts say it seems to more transmissible than omicron, however they don’t believe we will see a significant increase in cases and hospitalizations as omicron. With that said, Dr. Burmeister says it’s still too early to tell what this could mean for the community.
And the last age group could be eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine soon.
Pfizer and BioNTech applied for emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration for a two-dose regimen of their vaccine for children 6 months to 4 years old.
Dr. Burmeister says anytime we can get more of the population vaccinated, it’s a good thing. He adds that for parents who are hesitant to get their babies vaccinated to know that the vaccine is safe as billions of people around the world have received the vaccine with little adverse effects.
An analysis recently released claims lockdowns imposed by governments around the world reportedly had “little to no effect” in saving people’s lives during the pandemic, but they did have “enormous economic and social costs.”
Dr. Burmeister says he disagrees with the analysis as lockdowns were mostly imposed in the beginning of the pandemic when health officials had little information about the virus and had no treatment or vaccine. He believes these lockdowns saved lives.
He tells FOX 11 the biggest challenge of this pandemic was working against misinformation.
“You can always find a paper or an article that supports something that you believe in but that might not necessarily be the correct answer. Working with that misinformation and trying to educate our community so that we can navigate through this pandemic and mitigate the impact of harm and death that COVID has had on our community probably has been the most challenging thing and at the same time I think that when we realize we come together as a community and work together to impact the spread and make some sacrifices for ourselves and our families that that can be vitally important.”
Comments