Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer will hold a press conference today in response to the COVID-19 surge and efforts to slow the virus, according to a press release.
Whitmer, as reported in the Michigan Chronicle, has mentioned previously that she had no intentions to create new restrictions as the cases grew. As of today, the state has 723,297 confirmed cases, 16,400 total COVID-19 deaths, 7,819 confirmed cases, and 73 deaths, according to https://www.michigan.gov/coronavirus/.
Watch the press conference here at 10 a.m.
Hospitals in the state are feeling the strain, too, in particular in the metro Detroit area with record-high ER and hospital admissions for both COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients, WXYZ reported.
Some hospitals are opting to hold off on elective procedures to give spaces for new COVID-19 patients, per the article.
COVID-19 patients are taking up a large number of hospital beds also at Beaumont Health (which has nearly 700 patients) and Henry Ford (which has about 500 patients), the article added, stating “it’s the most they’ve had this year.”
“We are very worried about the accelerating rate of new cases that we have seen in the state and the number of people being hospitalized with COVID,” Henry Ford Chief Clinical Officer Dr. Adnan Munkarah said in the article.
Presently, Michigan has the most number of COVID-19 patients hospitalized and in the ICU in the country, the article said.
“We know that people are fatigued, but peoples’ noncompliance with the safety measures that have protected us for months now are giving this virus new life,” Henry Ford COO Bob Riney added in the article.
Also, because of the increasing rates of COVID-19 and the spread of COVID-19 variants, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) has reinstituted the 14-day quarantine guideline instead of previously being 10 days.
Read the full story here