Detroit news outlets are reporting that in the midst of an uptick in COVID-19 cases, hospitals across the region are becoming overwhelmed and are now at 90% to 95% capacity. This is in a situation in which many people are not wearing masks, and are still meeting at restaurants and other social venues.
One of the largest state healthcare systems, Beaumont Health, has 800 COVID-19 patients in its eight hospitals. Some emergency rooms are setting up “curbside triage units” (trailers) and one hospital is setting up tents. “Lake Huron Medical Center said ambulance traffic is being rerouted, but all walk-in traffic is being treated. The Port Huron Hospital said it’s sending patients to other hospitals.” (clickondetroit.com)
Dr. Justin Skrzynski of Beaumont Royal Oak pointed out, “One of the big issues with COVID care is that it just takes up more space than regular medical care. So you can imagine if the hospital is filling up with COVID patients, they keep displacing all of the non-COVID care, more and more.”
Dr. Nick Gilpin, Beaumont Health’s Medical Director of Infection Prevention and Epidemiology, expressed frustration that there are no policies in place to restrict in-person dining, sports venues participation, or school attendance — places where the virus is known to spread.
Gilpin states that non-urgent surgeries and procedures are being postponed, and that if the COVID-19 infection rate continues to escalate, they can open new beds, but the crucial issue is qualified staff. “We can create entire wings of the hospital if we have to, but if we don’t have staff for those beds, we’ve got nothing,” Gilpin told Detroit Free Press. They are trying to meet the demand by pulling in nurses from staffing agencies and calling personnel out of retirement, but they’re seeing significant “burn-out,” not only due to long shifts, but also because new patients are 20-30 years old range, and the mortality rate is increasing. Dr. Gilpin stated: “They have seen a lot of death over the last year, and now they are experiencing and seeing younger people who are in our ICU beds who are very, very sick, ... and some who are dying.”
The Michigan health department confirmed 5,530 new COVID-19 cases and 69 deaths on April 17; Michigan now has a total of 785,307 confirmed cases and 16,840 deaths since March.
Michigan has now vaccinated only a little over 25% of their population 16 years old and older; Gilpin concluded, “I do agree with the CDC that it is going to be difficult to vaccinate our way out of this.”
