DETROIT – Beaumont Health said it is starting to see a plateau in its number of COVID patients.
On Jan. 10, Beaumont Health had 857 COVID patients across its health system. On Monday (Jan. 24), it had 530 patients. While it’s an encouraging sign, experts are warning everyone not to let down their guard just yet.
“Lots of people can get it if they’re not being hospitalized, that’s the important thing. If they’re not going to the hospital, if they’re not dying,” Dr. Matthew Sims, Beaumont’s Director of Infectious Disease Research, said.
Sims said it’s clear getting the booster is reducing infections and keeping people out of the hospital but warns now is not the time to drop other precautions.
“We need to go back to stricter behavior still, right? We need to mask wherever we go. We need to avoid crowds. We need to socially distance, we need to get vaccinated,” Sims said.
“Will omicron surge again? Maybe. Will we get another variant? Any variant we get at this point is likely to be built off omicron, right? So, it’s likely to have all the mutations in omicron with a few of them either changed or a few new ones added.”
Sims said the goal is to get to where COVID is more like a common cold or the flu.
“What we need to do is reach the point where enough of us are immune, that it doesn’t circulate as much, that the virulence of it comes down to the point where we can live with it without it killing a significant number of people,” Sims said. “Vaccination will get us there faster.”
Sims said it will be a while before he feels safe not wearing a mask in a public place.
Read: Complete Michigan COVID coverage