Mayo doctor predicts omicron cases will be lower within a month

Area doctors are hopeful that they will see fewer COVID-19 cases a month from now.

Dr. Erin Morcomb, a physician at Mayo Health System in La Crosse said Wednesday on WIZM that it looks like the omicron variant may reach a limit in the region soon.

“Our stance is even if you’ve had natural infection, we still would recommend vaccination, simply because we don’t know how long natural infection’ll last, and that’s the best, at this point, the best that we can offer to try to help to combat future,” Morcomb said.

The doctor says the number of people already infected by COVID and the wide use of vaccines will help lead to downward numbers. But she still recommends hand-washing and distancing, because it’s also cold and flu season.

La Crosse’s hospitals are handing out N-95 surgical masks to people visiting the local facilities. Morcomb said most people probably won’t need those type of masks for everyday purposes.

“Actually, you might have a hard time finding those, just out in the community because there’s a shortage of those things,” Morcomb said, noting that the supply of those types of masks should be reserved for health professionals.

She believes the common blue cloth masks will work well in most other places, as long as they’re not a generic knockoff.