DETROIT – There has been a serious increase in COVID delta variant cases nationwide.
Henry Ford Health System provided an update on the situation hospitals in its system are seeing. Officials also spoke about the toll the pandemic has had on healthcare workers as we face another potential surge in cases.
The goal of the past year and a half are about minimizing illness and preventing deaths. Health officials don’t want to see a fourth surge in Michigan. Healthcare workers are exhausted, weary and becoming frustrated.
Henry Ford’s chief clinical officer Dr. Adnan Munkarah wants people to know they stand ready as the COVID numbers increase.
“As of this morning we have 48 patients hospitalized with COVID across five hospitals. This is a significant jump from where we were two weeks ago. We were in the twenties so this is almost doubling the numbers that we have seen,” Munkarah said.
In early April there were more than 500 patients with COVID admitted to Henry Ford. Now, the majority of hospitalizations are among unvaccinated people. Only three of the 48 hospitalized patients were vaccinated and none of them have required the Intensive Care Unit.
The absolute number of hospitalized patients isn’t severe yet, but the trend is worrisome.
“In Michigan the number of cases has jumped 180% in the past two weeks and hospitalizations statewide are up by about 35%,” Munkarah said.
Read: Continuous Michigan COVID coverage