For the fourth day in a row, Wisconsin saw a record number of daily confirmed COVID-19 cases in the wake of the holiday season and amid the Omicron surge.
The Wisconsin Department of Health Services'COVID-19 dashboardrecorded 12,293 confirmed cases on Wednesday, beating Wednesday's pandemic-wide record of 11,574 cases.
Thursday also saw an additional 21 confirmed COVID-19 deaths, raising the confirmed death toll from coronavirus in the state to 10,271. Friday's numbers will be added to the DHS' dashboard on Saturday.
On Monday DHS reported the state surpassed 1 million confirmed cases since the pandemic began. More than 10,000 people have died from complications caused by the virus since the virus entered Wisconsin in the spring of 2020.
Meanwhile the Wisconsin Hospital Association reports 2,109 COVID-19 patients are currently in the hospital, including 472 in the ICU.
Health care providers have been warning for weeks that hospitals are full, a capacity that denies critical patients the best treatment.
COVID-19 testing has also skyrocketed, with many people wanting to get checked after traveling and visiting family and loved ones over the holidays. Just on Tuesday the Milwaukee Health Department announced police officers will now be stationed at testing sites after receiving reports of line-cutting and other altercations between residents and with testing site staff.
On Thursday, Milwaukee County health officials issued a public health advisory.