Here & Now

A Long Recovery From COVID-19

Frederica Freyberg:

On the COVID front, it’s like a case of whiplash. Wisconsin’s 7-day average case number has hit the lowest point this year and is on the way down. That after Omicron sent case numbers sky high just weeks ago. As of today, the 7-day average of new cases in Wisconsin is below 2500. Compared to nearly 19,000 new daily cases at the peak of the Omicron surge. Great news but a little confusing too. Is it over? How should we respond? We turn to chief medical officer and state epidemiologist for community health at the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, Dr. Jasmine Zapata. Doctor, thanks very much for being here.

Jasmine Zapata:

Thank you for having me.

Frederica Freyberg:

So case numbers seem to be declining almost as fast as they surged, but still more than 50 counties remain in the critically high category. Does this mean, though, that the coast is clear?

Jasmine Zapata:

This does not mean that the coast is clear. We are cautiously optimistic. We are hopeful, and we’re thankful that we are starting to see the numbers go down, but we are still in crisis. We are still in a global pandemic and everyone needs to continue to stay vigilant. The ways that people can do that, continue with good hand washing, continue to avoid very large gatherings, continue to encourage others around you who have not already gotten vaccinated or received the boosters to do so. Individuals should do that as well. We need to continue to stay vigilant so that we can continue to see these numbers go down.

Frederica Freyberg:

So does that include things like rapid testing and isolating, you know how people were doing that and madly looking for these tests and couldn’t find them then and now we have stocks of them, but does it include that kind of vigilance?

Jasmine Zapata:

Yes, it does. Thank you for bringing that. I appreciate that question. It is very important if you are feeling sick to stay away from others, to get tested so that you can know exactly what’s going on. So we still do recommend following all local public health guidelines as it relates to testing. And you can do in-home testing, which is a great tool in our toolbox, and you can also go to your healthcare provider, go to local pharmacies and other community-based organizations and sites that deliver testing. So yes, that’s still a very important thing.

Frederica Freyberg:

It does seem confusing, though, because some states are doing away with masking in schools. So we’ve got this extra vigilance still upon us and then other states saying no, we don’t need to mask kids in school. Where do public health officials in Wisconsin stand on masking in schools?

Jasmine Zapata:

Yes. I appreciate that question, and we stand with the — we stand with the position of continuing to use masks in schools. We are in the midst of a keeping kids safe and in school campaign where we know that it’s important for kids to stay in school for their learning, but also their social and emotional development. We want to keep our children and our educators very safe, and one of the best ways to do that is to continue to use masks. We do not want to have our kids missing school. We want them to be there learning. We want them to be there safe, and again, having masks is still definitely our position, our strong position.

Frederica Freyberg:

As to infection rates and vaccination rates for minority populations, how persistent are those disparities?

Jasmine Zapata:

That’s a great question. We still do see disparities in our vaccination rates, particularly some of the biggest inequities that we see is among Black citizens as well as Hispanic citizens in our state, and we are seeing that those disparities are still in effect, but since last summer of 2021, until now, we have seen some slight improvements. There are overall disparities where there’s — Black Wisconsinites are about 33% less likely to be vaccinated, Hispanic Wisconsinites about 13 to 15% less likely to be vaccinated, which is still a disparity but we have seen a little improvement over the last several months. So I’m thankful for that, grateful for that, but we still need to continue having conversations. And it’s not just about individual choice or decisions. We need to continue to think about why we are seeing some of those disparities in the first place. What are some of the social determinants of health? What are some of the issues with access? What are some of the issues with trust with medicine and public health that we need to get to root cause of as well. So continued conversations and continued vigilance in that area is needed as well.

Frederica Freyberg:

Continued work, yes. Dr. Jasmine Zapata, thanks very much for joining us.

Jasmine Zapata:

Thank you so much.