Advocate Aurora Health has 90 hospitalized COVID-19 patients in its Wisconsin hospitals, the health system disclosed Thursday.
Those patients are among the health system’s 719 active COVID-19 cases in Wisconsin. The system reported 49 fatalities in the state to date.
Advocate Aurora’s network of hospitals is concentrated in southeastern Wisconsin, but stretches north to the Green Bay area.
Across all health systems statewide, there are currently 356 hospitalized COVID-19 Patients, according to Wisconsin Hospital Association data. Of those, 271 are in southeastern Wisconsin, 25 are in the northeastern region, and five are in the Fox Valley area.
The Milwaukee- and Downers Grove, Illinois-based health system reported it has discharged a total of 1,805 patients across its network in both states.
In its Illinois facilities, Advocate Aurora has 2,340 active cases, including 582 inpatient, and has recorded 255 fatalities to date.
Advocate Aurora announced this week it is closing the overflow triage tents set up outside its emergency departments, based on projected COVID-19 patient volumes. The system began erecting the tents in late March outside all of its hospitals in anticipation of a surge in patients with COVID-19 symptoms.
“We’re encouraged to see the curve is leveling, yet remain vigilant in our efforts to continue to stem the spread while adjusting our response tactics based on the evolving needs of the patients and communities we serve,” the health system said in a statement this week. “As such, we will be closing many of our ED surge tents based on current and projected surge volume.”
The state has generally seen a slowing of new cases over the past two weeks, but reported higher-than-usual numbers on Wednesday and Thursday. The state had 225 and 207 new confirmed cases on those two days, respectively.
Dr. John Raymond, president and chief executive officer of the Medical College of Wisconsin, said the uptick could be a result of increased testing, as well as potential hotspots in the state.
“This bears some of our attention as we go forward,” Raymond said during Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce’s daily briefing.
