MADISON, Wisconsin. – In a sign that the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic may be behind us, public health officials in Dane County say a record number of people are in the hospital as a result of the disease.
Public Health Madison & Dane County says that as of 5 pm Tuesday, only 12 people in the county were hospitalized with COVID-19, and only three people were in intensive care.
This decreased significantly from two months ago, when 77 people in Dane County were in the hospital with COVID-19. A month earlier, on December 23, the number was 148 people.
A significant factor in this decline was vaccination efforts, according to PHMDC’s Katarina Grande. On Wednesday, 87.5% of people over 65 in Dane County received at least one dose.
“This brings a lot of energy to our public health team, our friends and family and everyone we meet, ”said Grande. It is a joy that we can share. I love to talk about good numbers. “
Dr. Jeff Pothof, Director of Quality at UW Health, says the drop in hospitalizations has taken the pressure off the team there.
“Compared to where we were when we were actually being overwhelmed by the number of COVID patients we were seeing, morale is a little better. Things are better, ”he said. “It’s not that we don’t have COVID patients – we still have them. We are taking care of them. So, they are not so sick, some are very sick. For the most part, it has been quite manageable in the footprint we designed to care for people. “
The figures are part of an update from the county’s COVID-19 panel, which now shows that 31.4% of people in Dane County received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
PHMDC data shows that almost 1 in 5 people in the county – 19.1% – are now fully vaccinated.
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