October 9, 2020
In April, the WHIO published an InfoByte on viral respiratory disease as a baseline by which we can compare the impact of Coronavirus. Now, six months into the pandemic, the WHIO is bringing you an update to those earlier benchmarks. In this InfoByte, viral respiratory disease has been updated to reflect all acute respiratory infections, including bacterial infections known to have caused a large portion of the deaths during the 2009 influenza pandemic (PMC7237932).
The attached communication, InfoByte: COVID-19 Impact on Respiratory Infections, includes patient volume and resource use trend information in addition to a breakdown of inpatient vs. outpatient care by age and gender.
If you have an idea of how the WHIO information can be used to understand the impact of COVID-19 in Wisconsin, please let me know.
You may contact me directly at Dana.Richardson@whio.org for more information on the WHIO.
Please be safe and stay healthy.
Dana Richardson
Chief Executive Officer
Wisconsin Health Information Organization