COVID 19 Update

A widely available steroid may be key in helping treat the sockets COVID 19 patients. In preliminary findings Dexamethasone helped with patients who needed ventilation or oxygen according to researchers. The two lead investigators reported Tuesday that a low dose regimen of the steroid for 10 days was found to reduce the risk of death by a third among hospitalized patients requiring ventilation. The trial which closed last week included 2100 hospitalized COVID patients who were randomized to receive the steroid and about 4300 patients who were randomized to receive the usual standard of care. The percentage of positive COVID 19 tests has gone down slightly from Monday to 2.4% according to the DHS with 271 new cases reported in the last 24 hours which is more positive tests then Monday but there were over 5000 more tests done on Tuesday. Seven more people died Tuesday from complications of the virus bringing the death total in the state to 705. Out of the over 23 thousand people who have tested positive for the virus over 17 thousand or 74% have recovered fully from COVID 19. Wisconsin currently has 68 active labs capable of running tests with an additional 25 labs planning to test in the future. For more information on COVID 19 visit dhs.wisconsin.gov.