Late September and the new vaccine makes it a month to watch for COVID in Wisconsin

Well, it's late September in Wisconsin. Fall has arrived, both on the calendar and in the cloudy 60-degree weather. Schools and universities are back in session, and... it's also time for cold, flu and (since 2020) COVID season.

As you can see, September and October have been when we've seen cases and deaths spike up in Wisconsin. But the good news is that deaths and cases have yet to jump up in September 2022

Yes, I understand that a lot of cases in Sept 2022 aren't reported as often as they previously were in previous years, but deaths and hospitalizations are clearly down compared to the last 2 years. If these numbers don't go up in the next month, it'll verify that things have improved greatly from the horrors of 2020 and 2021.

However, the virus is not eradicated. That "33" that you see in late July was the largest one-week death toll since late May, and COVID still killed 117 Wisconsinites in August. Another ominous sign came from the Dane County Department of Public Health last week, which showed new COVID cases going down among older residents, but going up among people 22 and under.

And you can guess why that's the case in and around the Mad City.

Chris Hayes used a segment on his show this week to point out that COVID is still killing over 2,000 Americans a week, and that the new boosters that came out this month update immunities to prevent infections from the newer variants.

But Hayes notes that most Americans failed to get the first set of boosters, so many will likely take a pass on getting the new ones. And the lack of vaccination boosts and other precautions help explain the subpar outcomes the US has had with the pandemic in the past year compared to other countries.

I'm glad to say that I am one of the 2% of Americans that have gotten the new booster, after dropping by the Verona HyVee on Thursday. Had to admit I was worried over not being able to get another booster since November (under 50..barely), even though I hadn't modified much of my behavior in the last 6-8 months and that my prior vaxes likely would have kept me from getting too screwed up by the virus.

Given that the weather is now turning here and the regular Fall virus season is approaching, it might be a good time to head to your local provider and vax up for the Fall, so we can keep these COVID numbers drifting down for the coming months. Or at least not have cases and severity go up as much as it did the last 2 years.