The number of patients hospitalized with confirmed cases of COVID-19 has risen about 20% in the last week in Michigan.
That means that physician’s offices, labs, outpatient clinics and hospitals will remain open, but non-urgent surgeries and other procedures may have to be delayed, especially if they require an overnight hospital stay, said Munson spokesperson Dianne Michalek.
“The number of patients we are seeing in our hospitals right now are close to those we experienced during the worst of the pandemic last spring,” Christine Nefcy, Munson’s chief medical officer, said in a statement.
“Now, more than ever, we need our communities to band together with us by getting vaccinated, wearing a mask in public, practicing proper hand hygiene, and avoiding large gatherings whenever possible.”
In recent weeks, Henry Ford has typically had about 150 coronavirus patients filling hospital beds. By Monday, the COVID-19 census had jumped to 250 patients.
“The case rate, which is how many new infections there are per 100,000 people, it’s going up across the entire state, especially in southeast Michigan,” said Dr. Dennis Cunningham, medical director of infection prevention for Detroit-based Henry Ford Health System. “So I do expect the numbers will continue to get worse for a bit.”
At least eight other hospitals were listed by a state health department database as being at 100% capacity Wednesday:
- Beaumont Hospital Wayne
- Bronson South Haven
- Detroit Receiving Hospital
- St. Joseph Mercy Livingston Hospital
- Spectrum Health Reed City Hospital
- Sparrow Eaton Hospital
- ProMedica Coldwater Regional Hospital
- ProMedica CV Hickman Hospital
Nearly two dozen others are operating at 90%-99% capacity, and include:
- Ascension St. John Hospital
- Ascension St. Mary’s Hospital
- Beaumont Hospital – Troy
- Beaumont Hospital Trenton
- Covenant Healthcare
- Henry Ford Macomb Hospital
- Hurley Medical Center
- McLaren – Macomb
- McLaren Flint
- McLaren Greater Lansing
- McLaren Port Huron Hospital
- OSF St. Francis Hospital
- Munson Healthcare Grayling Hospital
- Promedica Monroe Regional Hospital
- Sheridan Community Hospital
- Sparrow Hospital
- Spectrum Health – Blodgett Hospital
- Spectrum Health – Butterworth Hospital
- Spectrum Health – Pennock Hospital
- St. Joseph Mercy Chelsea
- St. Joseph Mercy Hospital
- University of Michigan Hospitals & Health Centers
Gilpin said the Beaumont system is still open and available to treat both COVID and non-COVID patients, but the strain on staff is very real.
“We’re all very much tired of this, and taking care of sick COVID patients is incredibly labor-intensive,” he said, “But we mask up and we gown up and we do our job.
“I don’t think you’ll find any health care system in the state of Michigan and certainly not in metro Detroit that’s not dealing with staffing challenges. We do the best we can. We’re very nimble. … But it is difficult and especially as we look ahead to the prospect of a fourth surge that could last another three or four months or take us through the winter.
“This is going to be a tough one. … This one … is shaping up to be a little bit more of a marathon than a sprint.”
