MILWAUKEE- The 530 bed, nearly $15-million dollar facility was constructed in April, in the earliest days of the pandemic and when daily positive test numbers were a fraction of what they are today. As caseloads rise at hospitals across the state, the emergency hospital could soon become a necessity.
“We built this as the ultimate insurance policy, the worst case scenario, the scenario we hope we’d never get to, but one we’re closer to now than we ever have been,” Department of Health Secretary Andrea Palm said. “It’s an option for us should we ever need it.”
Many hospitals in Wisconsin have reported an increase in stays in recent weeks as the positive test rate has hovered around 20% for the better part of September. Bellen Health in Green Bay Tuesday said they were at 94% capacity.
There have been 120,000 coronavirus cases confirmed in Wisconsin since the first case was detected in early March. To date there are more than 20,000 active cases. As of Tuesday (September 29th), 1,300 people had died in Wisconsin, 17 of them over the past 24 hours.
According to data from the Wisconsin Hospital Association, less than 300 of 1,400 ICU bed are immediately available. Total hospitalized patients inflicted with COVID-19 is nearing 650, more than 320 of whom are on a ventilator.
Currently, Forest, Brown, and Milwaukee counties are reporting positive test rates at, or above, 30 per 1,000 people.
Palm says the State Fair Park facility has not yet had any live action, but would take between 4 and 7 days for the state to get it staffed and fully functional.
