A spike in cases is straining capacity and taking a toll on hospital workers in Wisconsin— 215 members of the Aspirus Health System staff were in isolation Thursday due to COVID-19, coronavirus symptoms or exposure to someone who has tested positive in the community.
Melissa Resch, a nurse at Aspirus in Wausau, says N95 masks do not prevent tears when watching a patient take their last breath.
Resch, a registered nurse who works on the coronavirus medical unit, said she was initially seeing “walking, talking, independent” patients.
“Now we’re seeing people (needing) high amounts of oxygen, needing to be repositioned, needing to be intubated,” Resch added. “Family members are then deciding what they need to do. … Do they withdraw care, or do they keep them on full life support.”
The hospital’s COVID-19 patients range in age from the 20’s to 90’s.
With one of the fastest rising testing positivity rates in the country, a Wisconsin judge has reimposed precautions in a bid to slow the coronavirus spread. A judge reimposed precautions to limit indoor gatherings in restaurants and bars to 25%.
The Wisconsin Department of Health reports 173,891 cumulative positive cases, with an increase of 3,777 new COVID-19 infections for the prior day. The epidemiological chart of the state’s coronavirus situation paints a grim picture, with increasing daily records of new COVID-19 cases in the state, overwhelmingly surpassing previous peaks seen in April and May.
See more on this at The Hill.
Local source at the Milwaukee Sentinel Journal.