Local health officials say COVID-19 is still a very real threat in Milwaukee.
Milwaukee County is in the “extreme transmission” category and cases continue to rise. Current trends show 267 cases a day and three deaths daily.
"Our trends have overall been quite poor. And when it comes to COVID we’re not even close to [being] out of the woods. We are deep in the woods," said Dr. Ben Weston, the chief health policy advisor for Milwaukee County, during a media briefing Tuesday.
Weston said the poor COVID-19 trends extend to all of Wisconsin. The state is at the highest level of disease transmission. "Wisconsin is the 6th worst state in the country in cases per population. We have more cases per day than at any other point that we’ve seen in 2021."
Weston said that while deaths from COVID-19 have remained low, health officials are still concerned about the rate of both deaths and hospitalizations. "If you prefer to measure hospitalizations more than cases, we also have more people hospitalized with COVID than at any other point in 2021. And both of those numbers are rising."
Weston said the bottom line is that there are not enough people vaccinated. Currently, 59.6% of adults in the city of Milwaukee are fully vaccinated.
As families prepare to gather for the holidays, Weston recommended a few safety precautions.
He suggested unvaccinated people get at least the first dose for added protection. He also recommends people buy at-home COVID tests for everyone to take before a gathering. He also said people should consider using facemasks if they are not yet vaccinated.
