“An emergency,” La Crosse’s health dept. says, as county suffers 28th death and is adding 19.6 to hospitals a day

The 28th COVID-19 death in La Crosse County, as the health department says virus metrics are gravely concerning.

“This is an emergency,” the department said in a statement Thursday.

One of the big Wednesday updates from the area’s dashboard shows daily hospitalizations in the county have increased to 19.6 per day, per 100,000. Last week, that was 7.1 a day.

“Locally one in three people tested for COVID-19 is testing positive,” the health department added. “The number of people dying of COVID-19 is unacceptable.”

It’s actually just over one in three people. The positivity rate for those tested for the virus is 33.7% over the past week.

The only metric not in red was hospital care capacity, which shows up in yellow, as caution, on the Coulee COVID-19 Collaborative dashboard.

Wednesday, for the second time in a week and third time ever, La Crosse County has added more than 200 cases. Over the past week, there’s been 923 cases, according to state data.

The health department says Western Wisconsin is in crisis, and “projections show that without significant changes in behavior the community hospitalizations and deaths will continue to increase.”

It is unknown at this point, how old the person was who died Wednesday, but all 27 deaths before that one were people aged 60 or older.

La Crosse County added 207 cases Wednesday, bringing the total to 5,833, according to the state. Five more La Crosse County residents were hospitalized in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 174.

TREMPEALEAU 75 new cases (47.9 cases/day past week – 1,575 total – 529 active – 17 hospitalized)
MONROE 82 new cases (46.7 cases/day past week – 1,765 total – 428 active – 6 hospitalized)
JACKSON 53 new cases (36.3 cases/day past week – 1,038 total – 311 active – 12 hospitalized)
WINONA 48 new cases (42.7 cases/day past week – 1,808 total)
HOUSTON 22 new cases (15.1 cases/day past week – 394 total)

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STATE TOTALS
Wisconsin: 285,891 cases, 13,507 hospitalizations, 2,457 deaths
Minnesota: 194,570 cases, 12,151 hospitalizations, 2,754 deaths
Iowa: 168,457 cases, 1,927 deaths
CASE/DAY PAST WEEK
Wisconsin: 5,984, Minnesota: 4,817, Iowa: 4,309
HOSPITALIZATIONS/DAY PAST WEEK
Wisconsin: 203, Minnesota: 186, Iowa: 182
DEATHS/DAY PAST WEEK
Wisconsin: 43, Minnesota: 32, Iowa: 18

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In Wisconsin, the second-highest daily totals in cases at 7,048 and deaths at 62 — Tuesday had the highest ever in those categories — while adding a third-most hospitalizations at 277.

“Statewide, Wisconsin is seeing a worse surge than New York City’s in April despite having a fraction of the population and cases are growing quickly,” the health department said. ” Hospitals are overwhelmed throughout the state.”

In Minnesota, the state was six away from tying Tuesday’s single-day record for cases, with 4,900. The state also suffered its most deaths ever in a day with 56, while 218 more were hospitalized. There are currently 1,299 patients currently hospitalized in the state — 282 in the ICU.

Winona added 48 cases, as Saint Mary’s University, there, has gone to virtual learning and imposed a 9 p.m. curfew on campus.

Students are also not recommended to return to their home communities, before quarantining on campus for 14 days.