GREEN BAY- A hospital system struggling to keep up with a growing number of COVID-19 patients is getting some federal assistance.
The White House says a 23-person medical team will begin operating out of Bellin Health on Friday. This comes less than a month after the Wisconsin Department of Health Services and Governor Evers asked the federal government for help.
“I asked for additional federal assistance to support our state’s continued response to the pandemic, and I am grateful for FEMA’s efforts to help our health care workers with the high volume of patients due to COVID-19 and other health conditions,” said Governor Evers. “I urge every Wisconsinite to take immediate action and get the COVID-19 vaccine and your booster dose if you haven’t received it already—this is critically important for mitigating surges in hospitalizations and deaths across our state. Our hospitals and health care systems are relying on us to do our part to get the COVID-19 vaccine and stop the spread of COVID-19.”
The number of COVID cases in Wisconsin has doubled over the last month, the DHS reporting more than 38-hundred new daily cases over the past seven days. The DHS reporting that 93% of total hospital beds are in use while ICU bed occupancy is at 97%.
During an interview this week with TMJ4’s Charles Benson, Evers said increasing the number of vaccinations is the best way through the resurgent pandemic.
“We need to get people vaccinated,” the Governor told Benson. “And that will continue to be an issue. Unfortunately [the vaccine] became a political issue across the country. And Wisconsin is no different than that. But we’re going to continue to fight for that.”
According to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, 58% of the state’s population is fully vaccinated while 61% of eligible people have gotten at least partially vaccinated.