Wisconsin sees slight uptick in Covid cases, new booster to be released this fall

 

WISCONSIN (CBS 58) -- Covid numbers are up. Wisconsin's seven-day average was 66 in July. It's now at 142. It's only a slight increase, but is it something to be weary of?

"It shows how important it is to keep monitoring these things. So, a slight increase in cases really should just be a little bit of a warning to people to pay attention," said Dr. Dan Shirley, UW Health medical director for infection prevention. 

Immunocompromised Teri Dary's paying attention and doing what she can to stay healthy. 

"I know that it's important to stay up on the vaccine as immunity wanes, and don't want to leave myself vulnerable," said Dary, who received her Covid booster at Hayat Monday afternoon.

Dary's here to receive her bivalent Covid booster.

"Here at Hayat Pharmacy, we're still getting about three to five people who come every day to get vaccinated to get the bivalent vaccine," said Hashim Zaibak, Hayat Pharmacy CEO.

"That's part of being in a community, is protecting yourself, but also doing that in order to protect others. It's not just a me game, it's an us game, and we all win when we all win together," said Dary.

The bivalent Covid booster was released almost a full year ago, and with numbers creeping up, some wonder, should they get another booster now or wait until this fall when the new monovalent Covid booster is released. 

"It's gonna be a new subgroup of omicron, it's the one that's most common now for people who test positive for Covid," said Zaibak.

"A lot of us still probably have some immunity, especially against severe disease. So, we haven't noticed a major increase in hospitalizations or deaths for instance, so that's good, that's really what we're trying to prevent, but at the same time we really also don't want a big, rapid rise in cases and uncontrolled spread," said Dr. Shirley.

Most insurance covers the booster. The bivalent's been free for the uninsured because of all the preordered doses, but this fall, the uninsured may have to start paying for Covid boosters. 

"Cost should not be an issue. I want to tell people, even when the new covid booster comes out in the fall, if you don't have insurance, you can still come to the pharmacy and we'll take care of you," said Zaibak. 

Most expiration dates for at-home Covid tests have been extended. To find out if yours has, do a Google search on the manufacturer's name, and then enter the lot number.