It took Wisconsin more than seven months to reach 100,000 coronavirus cases. On Monday, just five weeks later, it reached 200,000.
Wisconsin is now experiencing a massive upsurge in cases that rivals the numbers seen in much bigger states. Hospital beds are at about 85% capacity statewide. The state just opened a field hospital near Milwaukee that can accommodate more than 500 patients.
“Early on in the pandemic, we put a lot of plans in place and then we were fortunate enough to be able to put those away for a while. We had COVID cases, but they weren’t overwhelming. Things were going OK,” says Dr. Jeffrey Pothof, an emergency room doctor in Madison. “And then everything changed. And now we are the next hot spot. And that’s been so challenging for all of our staff who have been at this for so long now.”
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