WAUSAU, WI (WAOW TV-WSAU) – Hospital beds are filling up in Central Wisconsin as cases of respiratory illnesses rise – with some hospitals reaching max capacity.
Marshfield Clinic and Aspirus say RSV, the flu, and COVID-19 numbers are rising contributing to long wait times for patients.
“This is a national issue,” said Aspirus Senior Vice President, Jeff Wicklander. “We continue to see there’s continued COVID prevalence, we continue to see for the first time in the last couple years a very severe flu season is coming, as well as RSV which is really impacting the pediatric population.”
Aspirus said in a press release that some of their walk-in clinics are reporting that 70% of patients are showing symptoms of respiratory illness.
Wicklander mentioned the issue is both rising illness and trouble with staffing.
“It’s a combination of both,” said Wicklander. “It’s really dependent on what kind of patient bed we need as well as the staff to care for it. Our staffing is very tight and many times across the system, they are at capacity.”
WAOW did also reach out to Marshfield Clinic, but they are dealing with the same issues of respiratory illness saying it’s full and busy.
