More than 2.6 million adult Wisconsinites are projected to be infected by COVID-19 over the course of the pandemic, according to a recent report from the Harvard Global Health Institute. Plus, around 560,000 adults in the state are expected to be hospitalized, the report shows. Fond du Lac County Public Health Officer Kim Mueller says those figures are startling but not out of the ordinary. “With this spread continuing to happen, with the additional testing every county is doing we’re going to continue to see those numbers increase,” Mueller told WFDL news. There are 18 confirmed cases in Fond du Lac County and one death. While Mueller says while there is no evidence of community spread, that doesn’t mean it isn’t occurring. She says that’s because testing can be delayed because it is done on a tiered approach. The report shows that Wisconsin currently has around 12,000 hospital beds. On average, the state has around 4,900 unoccupied hospital beds, according to the report. But in six months, the state is projected to need around 37,000 hospital beds — more than triple the current total amount. A year from now, around 18,000 hospital beds will be needed in the state, the report shows. Fond du Lac St. Agnes Hospital president Katherine Vergos, says the hospital is preparing for that. “Some of the things you’ve seen us put out as far as cancelling of patient visits, elective surgeries, trying to limit the number of people showing up at doctors offices, ERs with symptoms. All of those things are really to make sure we have the beds that we need available,” Vergos said.
