Health leaders call for consistent messaging on COVID-19 as state nears ‘tipping point’
Health leaders on Wednesday called for consistent messaging on COVID-19 as the state approaches a “tipping point” in the crisis.
Dr. Ryan Westergaard, chief medical officer for the Bureau of Communicable Diseases at the Department of Health Services, said at a Wisconsin Health News webinar that the state has surpassed the peaks seen in April in New York City.
Westergaard said Wisconsin has so far been spared from deaths due to hospitals not being able to care for patients.
”Right now, our real biggest concern is making sure that our hospitals and clinics have the capacity to save everyone, while we’re doing the things in the public health world to try and stem the spread,” Westergaard said. “We’re very close to a tipping point. And I think right now, all the hospitals are strained and it’s causing a lot of stress on healthcare workers and leaders, but the case fatality rate has remained kind of low, relative to what we’ve seen elsewhere.”
Wisconsin Hospital Association CEO Eric Borgerding said the pandemic is stressing health systems, with hundreds, if not thousands, of front-line healthcare workers unable to help because they’ve been exposed to the virus in the community and are quarantining or isolating.
COVID-19-related demand for care is almost at a “vertical pace” at the same time hospitals’ capacity to treat demand is being diminished, he said.
He called on state leaders to come together on a unified public message that the pandemic needs to be taken “very seriously.”
“That’s not a bill that you pass, at least not in Wisconsin, it’s not. It’s not a piece of legislation,” he said. “It’s more tapping into the will and willingness of our leaders of all types to get behind that messaging.”
Kirsten Johnson, director of the Washington Ozaukee Public Health Department, said her department is no longer able to contact all those testing positive within 24 hours, even after hiring more than 60 additional staff. They’re asking those who are positive to reach out to their close contacts.
Her department is getting more than 400 cases a day, but can only handle about 200.
“We need a solid strategy and we need a unified message coming from the governor’s office, DHS and the Legislature,” she said. “I’m hopeful that we can get there.”
Tim Sheehy, president of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce, said the gridlock between Gov. Tony Evers and state legislators over COVID-19 “hasn’t been helpful.”
“I’m just a bit perplexed at the kind of lack of a common guidance on an issue that is broad and statewide, but I’m equally perplexed about how people are reacting,” he said. “If you don’t know you should be wearing a mask, that you should social distance, that you should wash your hands and just stay out of some very challenging environments with this, you’ve got to be living under a rock. Yet here we are with escalating cases and a widespread pandemic and people still aren’t acting as if that’s the case.”
Evers urged state residents to stay home during a rare primetime address on Tuesday. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, told reporters after the speech that he reached out to Evers. Meanwhile, Sen. Duey Stroebel, R-Saukville, accused Evers on Wednesday of “fear mongering.”
“We mourn those who have lost their lives. But we can’t cancel our lives, cancel people’s jobs or cancel the education of our children as we look to the future,” he said in a statement. “Wisconsin doesn’t need to run and hide. We need to get to work building strong communities and revitalizing our economy while abiding by common-sense precautions.”
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