La Crosse County suffers 9th COVID-19 death in 10 days, as state sets another hospitalization record

A 14th death from COVID-19 in La Crosse County on Wednesday, while the state of Wisconsin re-set the single-day high for hospitalizations and near-highs in cases and deaths.

It’s the ninth death in the past 10 days of a county resident, and 12th death in the past three weeks. No word on that person’s age, though every other death has been residents 60 and over.

Hospitalizations of county residents rose by two from Tuesday to 107 total — so at least two residents have been hospitalized in the past 24 hours.

As for cases, the county was under 20 in a day for the second time this week, which has only happened on four days since Sept. 10.

Meanwhile, in other counties, Monroe had the biggest jump in cases with 38 Wednesday. Winona added 13, Trempealeau added nine, Vernon seven and Houston four.

STATE TOTALS
Wisconsin: 158,578 cases, 8,754 hospitalizations, 1,536 deaths
Minnesota: 115,943 cases, 8,585 hospitalizations, 2,180 deaths
Iowa: 102,905 cases, 1,505 deaths.

Along with setting a single-day record with 153 more Wisconsinites hospitalized, the state added another 3,107 cases and reported 28 more deaths on Wednesday — after seeing the most deaths (34) the day before.

This is the third time this week — and ever — the state has had over 3,000 cases. It’s averaging 2,840 cases and 115 hospitalizations a day over that span.

“The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 is at an all-time high and, not only that, the number is also growing,” Julie Willems Van Dijk, deputy secretary of Wisconsin’s Department of Health Services, said Wednesday, in announcing the opening of an alternate care facility — or field hospital — at the Wisconsin State Fair Park. “Many of our ICUs are strained and every region of our state has one or more of our hospitals are reporting current and imminent staff shortages.”

She added no patients are yet in the West Allis, Wis., facility but it is ready to accept patients as the need arises. It can hold up to 50 patients, who need limited care in recovering. It could be scaled up to treat 530 patients.

Minnesota added another 1,254 cases, 85 hospitalizations and 29 deaths. The state hasn’t had a single-day death toll in the 20s since mid-June. The hospitalizations were nearly a single-day high, as well.

It was also the seventh consecutive day with over 1,100 cases. The state is averaging 1,321 cases a day the past week.

Iowa added 1,374 cases, 66 hospitalizations and 14 deaths on Wednesday. It’s the third consecutive day with double-digit deaths.