transition of care,” he said. ….
transition of care,” he said.
Andrew Kraus, spokesman for Aspirus, said his health care system had 81 hospitalized coronavirus patients as of last Thursday, including 18 at the Aspirus Wausau Hospital. He said this patient level represented a slight drop from Oct. 13, when the system had 91 patients.
“Still, we are pretty full,” he said. Aspirus Systems executive physician Dr. Susan Schneider said this newest wave of COVID-19 patients is putting pressure on ICUs because the disease’s Delta variant is affecting a younger group of patients. The average age of a COVID-19 patient within the Aspirus System has dropped from age 62 to 50.
“The ICU is essentially one of the areas in our hospitals that take care of the sickest of the sick,” she said. “We’re seeing with this most recent surge with the Delta variant that patients are somewhat younger than they have been in the past and needing a much higher level of care.”
As of Oct. 26, 32 of the Aspirus Systems coronavirus patients were being treated in an ICU.
Schneider said the lion’s share of new coronavirus cases are among those who have not been vaccinated.
“Over 80% of our patients right now that are admitted with COVID-infections are unvaccinated,”she said.
Aaron Ruff, spokesman for the Marathon County Health Department, said the county has not seen this level of COVID- 19 cases since December 2020, one month after case levels hit their peak.
He said county health officials had hoped that the newest surge in cases would plateau and, possibly, decline. Instead, cases have continued to grow slowly over the last two months.
“November2020wasourworstmonth,” he said. “We are concerned about what is going to happen this month.”
Ruff said county health officials meet weekly with Aspirus and Marshfield Clinic representatives. He said that these health care providers have reported large numbers of patients.
“Their beds are full and this impacts other patients,” he said. “When hospitals are burdened like this, it impacts all of us.”
