Masks recommended indoors in 7 Wisconsin counties with high COVID-19 levels | Local News

The counties with high rates are Barron and Rusk in the northwestern part of the state; La Crosse County and neighboring Monroe and Vernon counties; and Kenosha and Racine counties in southeastern Wisconsin.

Thirty-eight counties, including Dane, have medium levels, meaning people at high risk for severe disease should talk to their doctors about whether to wear masks. Twenty-seven counties have low levels, based on case rates and hospital bed capacity, according to the latest update from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Dr. Ryan Westergaard, a chief medical officer with the state Department of Health Services, urged people 50 and older at high risk for COVID-19 complications who test positive to ask their doctors about taking the antivirals Paxlovid or Lagevrio. The drugs can greatly reduce the risk of hospitalization and death if taken soon after infection, he said.

Even as cases rise from the more transmissible subvariants of the omicron strain that emerged in December, the antivirals, along with vaccines and boosters, make this a more manageable phase of the pandemic, Westergaard said.

“Omicron and its descendants continually become more and more transmissible,” he said. But, “We should no longer feel potentially as frightened as we did. We should feel empowered.”

As of Monday, the state had a daily average of 2,193 reported cases of COVID-19, the highest since Feb. 11. Dane County has a daily average of 374 cases, up from 60 on March 17. Some 13.9% of tests statewide and in the county have been positive in the past week. In mid-March, both were under 3%.

There have been major increases recently in coronavirus levels in wastewater in Eau Claire, Janesville, Kenosha, La Crosse, Lodi, Oregon and Platteville, among other cities. Since COVID-19 testing has declined and results of increasingly used home tests typically aren’t officially reported, health officials are looking at sewage as another indicator of coronavirus spread.

As of Monday, 397 people were hospitalized in Wisconsin with COVID-19, up from 345 on Friday, and up from a recent low of 136 on April 19. The pandemic peak was 2,278 on Jan. 12.

“Things are going in the wrong direction, but … it is mild to moderate,” Westergaard said of hospitalizations.

State health officials said people should get recommended vaccines and booster doses, be tested for COVID-19 if symptomatic or recently exposed to someone with COVID-19 and stay home if they are sick or have tested positive.