The number of COVID-19 cases has been growing in Wisconsin as summer winds down, according to state data.
The Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene at the University of Wisconsin-Madison reported by the end of July the percentage of positive COVID-19 tests was at 8.4 percent, nearly double when compared to the 4.4 percent recorded for the for the week ending July 1.
The timing is not unexpected. Doctors say throughout the pandemic cases seem to rise in late summer and early fall.
Dr. Jeff Pothof, chief quality officer and emergency medicine physician at UW Health, says a new COVID booster is good news. Dr. Pothof encourages people to get the new booster in September or October when they get their flu shot.
"Our immune systems get a little bit lazy and they don't work as well against COVID. So having this booster is going to be helpful. It's actually against the strain that's pretty common out there right now," Dr. Pothof.
Since far fewer test results are being officially recorded, experts point to case positivity rates by following hospitalizations, wastewater surveillance, and deaths.
In Milwaukee County, that positivity rate was less than 5 percent in June, and by August it was over 10 percent.
Milwaukee County's chief health policy advisor, Dr. Ben Weston, described the recent increase in hospitalizations as mild. Deaths are not showing an increase suggesting greater immunity and less severe disease
"I think we do know how to handle it better now," Monica Amren said.
Amren watches her three granddaughters regularly. She is not overly concerned about the recent uptick in cases.
"If we find we need to curtail activities or wear masks, certainly we'll do that, but I don't know that we would kind of go as far back as we did in 2020 where we wouldn't be going out," Amren said.
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