Door County Medical Center is preparing just in case it needs to handle a larger number of hospitalized patients for COVID-19. The hospital announced it would be enacting its surge plan after Door County Public Health issued an emergency COVID-19 alert earlier this week due to significant uncontrolled spread of the coronavirus in the area. Hospitals in Brown and Outagamie counties have been reporting that they have been overwhelmed due to the surge in cases, which reached a high watermark of over 3,000 on Thursday. Speaking during his joint Facebook Live session with Door County Public Health Director Sue Powers, Door County Medical Center Chief Medical Officer Dr. Jim Heise says the hospital could double the number of beds it can use from 25 to 50. Similar to people’s earlier concerns about having enough ventilators, he notes the difficulty they would face with staffing.

Heise says the hospital reached its peak last week with six patients hospitalized with COVID-19, five of which have been discharged since. Powers and Heise also announced Thursday they are working with the Wisconsin National Guard to bring additional COVID-19 testing events to Sister Bay and Sturgeon Bay with more details being announced in the near future.