GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Most of Wisconsin is still seeing high transmission levels of COVID-19.
And because of that, the CDC and state health officials are recommending people who are not vaccinated avoid traveling over the upcoming holiday weekend.
Dr. Brad Burmeister, an emergency physician with Bellin Health, says, “If you’re not vaccinated, it is recommended that you don’t travel at this point. If you are fully vaccinated, then you should continue to use those public health measures of masking, washing your hands, and if you get sick, please don’t go out into public and potentially expose others.”
He says in the Green Bay area, there are currently 78 patients hospitalized for COVID-19, a 20% increase from last week and in the Fox Valley, there are 87 patients hospitalized for the virus, a 28% increase from last week.
“So our increase rate maybe has slowed just a little bit but we continue to see strong growth in those numbers and I think it’s something that we need to keep an eye on and do something about it,” he said.
The number of those getting their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine are also rising. Dr. Burmeister thinks that’s for two reasons: The Pfizer vaccine recently received FDA approval and people are realizing the time is now to get the vaccine as case numbers continue to increase.
As kids head back to school this year, Dr. Burmeister encourages parents not to send their kids to class if they show any signs of illness. Even if parents think it’s just a cold or allergies, he says it’s better to stay home and take a COVID test just to make sure to prevent possible spread of the virus.
He expects COVID precautions at schools to ease when the numbers of cases go down. When that will be, he does not know.
