GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) — An Advocate Aurora Doctor says some people infected with COVID-19 aren’t reporting their positive test results.
Advocate Aurora Dr. Jeff Bahr says a stigma has developed around testing positive for the virus.
“We’ve become aware of this through interactions with our patients,” Bahr told reporters Monday. “They so ‘oh, I was positive, but I didn’t want to tell anybody’. There’s a certain stigma attached to being positive and being the source of another’s infection.”
Others, he says, aren’t getting tested at all despite showing symptoms.
“If you have a positive result, it’s important to let the people around you know,” Bahr said. “It’s the right thing to do. It’s the healthy thing to do.”
It comes as Advocate Aurora’s COVID-19 inpatient numbers are hitting a pandemic high. Officials Monday told reporters that 1491 COVID patients are in the Advocate Aurora System.
“That’s doubled from 30 days ago, and quadrupled from 60 days ago,” said Mary Beth Kingston with Advocate Aurora.
Doctors there say the Omicron variant, while more mild that previous strains, is more infectious, but isn’t hitting the vaccinated quite as hard.
“We are seeing many patients who are immunosuppressed or unvaccinated ending up in the hospital,” said Dr. Raul Mendoza.
Mendoza did add that several fully vaccinated patients, including some that have received booster shots, have been admitted to the hospital, and even the ICU.
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