MADISON, Wis. - COVID-19 could become endemic by the end of the year, Wisconsin's top medical officer said Thursday.Wisconsin Department of Health Services Chief Medical Officer Dr.
Ryan Westergaard still warned that case counts could periodically spike, but the disease likely will reach a stage in 2022 where case numbers remain fairly constant.Westergaard's remarks come as a surge in Wisconsin case numbers driven by the omicron variant continues to subside.
Wisconsin's seven-day case average stood at 4,679 as of Thursday, down from 18,857 on Jan. 19. According to the Wisconsin Hospital Association, as of Wednesday 1,442 people were hospitalized with COVID-19, down 389 patients from a week ago.SIGN UP TODAY: Get daily headlines, breaking news emails from FOX6 NewsSome medical experts maintain that COVID-19 will never become endemic because the disease will be driven by new variants that can evade vaccinations and infect swaths of unvaccinated people.
The medical community is closely watching a new descendant of the omicron variant that experts say is highly transmissible.Westergaard didn’t elaborate on his prediction during a news conference but conceded that COVID-19 is difficult to predict.