Wisconsin reports more than 100 deaths from COVID-19 in one day for first time as health experts plead for residents to stay home

For the first time, Wisconsin reported more than 100 deaths from COVID-19 in one day.

The grim news comes ahead of Thanksgiving, when health experts expect asymptomatic carriers to gather indoors and spread the coronavirus even further in a state already struggling with strained hospitals and a critically high level of infection.

"If you're planning to spend Thanksgiving with people outside of your household, we urge you to seriously reconsider," Gov. Tony Evers said Tuesday in a news conference. "None of us wants to be the ones who unwittingly spread this virus to somebody we love, or host the next superspreader event we hear about in the news."

The state Department of Health Services on Tuesday reported 6,202 new cases and 104 deaths, bringing the death toll to 3,115.

The average number of new daily cases over the last seven days was 5,732. It is down from 6,500 last Wednesday, an early indicator to health experts cases might be plateauing at a high level.

"The data from the past week are encouraging that it’s plateauing. It’s much better that we observe that than continuing to go straight uphill," said Ryan Westergaard, DHS chief medical officer. "That being said, the level of transmission and the number of cases is critically high."

At the current level, hospitals are struggling to find enough staff and beds for the influx of patients, and contact tracing efforts have been overwhelmed.

The average daily death toll over the last seven days was 53; two months ago, just as the surge in deaths was beginning in Wisconsin, it was five.

The seven-day averages help smooth out anomalies in the data and are a better indicator of trends, as reporting of cases and deaths varies by day.

The 104 deaths reported Tuesday follow Sunday, with zero reported deaths, and Monday, with six. The daily reported death toll does not represent the number of deaths that occurred on a day, but instead all deaths not previously reported.

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“We are far from out of the woods. People need to double down,” said DHS Secretary-designee Andrea Palm.

More than 75,000 people who've tested positive for COVID-19 were actively infected with the virus Tuesday, according to state data, meaning they haven't yet recovered or died.

Many more asymptomatic people are spreading the virus unknowingly, Westergaard said.

Most of the transmission of the virus in Wisconsin is from people who do not know they're infected, he said. To flatten the curve, everyone must stay home, he said.

"It's really only going to happen when we really considerably decrease how frequently we’re interacting," Westergaard said.

Health experts have reminded residents that a negative test a few days before Thanksgiving is not a free pass to interact with vulnerable family members.

The virus can incubate for days before symptoms appear, and transmission is so widespread that residents could be infected anytime between the negative test and Thanksgiving.

Small, indoor gatherings easily spread the virus and are currently one of the main drivers of transmission in Wisconsin, experts say.

"We enter Thanksgiving very aware of the catastrophic effects that gatherings could have in increased transmission of this disease," said Ben Weston, director of medical services for the Milwaukee County Office of Emergency management.

He cautioned against putting trust in the phrase “I feel fine.”

“‘I feel fine’ means very little in regards to COVID infection,” Weston said. “Everyone feels fine before they don’t.

"And everyone feels fine when they’re at their very most contagious," he added. "That’s a huge part of the reasons why COVID is so dangerous, why the disease has been so hard to control.”

More:Nearly 300 Wisconsin nursing home residents died from COVID-19 in four weeks

More:Doctors and scientists beg Wisconsinites to stay home for Thanksgiving

Supreme Court signals it won't block Dane County order before Thanksgiving

The Wisconsin Supreme Court signaled Tuesday it would not block Dane County’s order limiting gatherings ahead of Thanksgiving.

A conservative legal firm, on behalf of Dane County residents, filed a lawsuit Monday asking the state’s highest court to block a county order banning indoor gatherings of any size other than those with household members. Under that policy, extended family and loved ones aren’t able to gather inside for Thanksgiving.

The restrictions also apply to sporting events, group exercises, meetings, trainings, conferences and movies.

The Supreme Court asked the county to respond to the motion for an emergency temporary injunction by Friday, suggesting the court would not block the order before Thanksgiving.

Hospitals continue to struggle with nearly full ICUs, staffing

As of Tuesday, there were 1,989 people hospitalized with the virus, including 436 patients in intensive care units, both slight declines from the day prior.

Hospitalizations have dipped from from an all-time high last Tuesday of 2,277.

Still, hospitals remain at or near capacity, and they continue to face severe staffing shortages as hundreds of health care workers must quarantine at home after being infected or exposed to the virus in the community.

Hospitals statewide have been about 90-92% full for the last several weeks, John Raymond, president of the Medical College of Wisconsin, said Tuesday in a Milwaukee Press Club event. They run best at 75-85% capacity, he said.

Especially concerning are the near-capacity ICUs across the state.

"Things start to break down when you get up over 85 or 90%" in intensive care units, Raymond said.

It's hard to staff packed ICUs, and very sick patients are difficult to transfer between hospitals, Raymond said.

Only a handful of intensive care beds remain available in some regions of the state.

In northwest Wisconsin — a region of 15 counties as defined by the Healthcare Emergency Readiness Coalition — just four ICU beds and three intermediate care beds were available Tuesday, according to Wisconsin Hospital Association data.

"As we enter the holiday season, if people ignore the recommendations of our public health officials, it's very likely that we will overwhelm the capacity of our health systems to take care of everybody, whether they have COVID-19 or not," Raymond said.

About 31% of hospital beds in the state are being used by COVID-19 patients, Raymond said.

The average positivity rate was 28.7% Tuesday. The measure looks at first-time positive tests over the last seven days and has been declining for the last two weeks.

Daily case totals reported by the state do not include rapid antigen tests, which are more prevalent since the University of Wisconsin System opened community rapid testing sites at several campuses in the last three weeks.

Molly Beck and Ricardo Torres contributed to this report.

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