Health

The average age of people hospitalized for COVID-19 in Michigan has been dropping as the total number of people hospitalized with the disease rises, health officials said Thursday.

Two-thirds of people hospitalized at Munson Healthcare, a network of hospitals and clinics across Northern Michigan, were under 65 years old, said the organization’s chief medical officer, Christine Nefcy.

Beaumont Health System is among other health systems across the state that are struggling to meet the need for care during a surge of COVID-19 patients and hospitalizations.

A new University of Michigan study finds female nurses’ risk of suicide is twice as high as the general population.

Researchers examined CDC data from 2007 through 2018.

Christopher Friese is the Director of the Center for Improving Patient and Population Health. He’s worried nurses in the U.S. have been in trouble for a long time and they were in trouble before the pandemic began.

Hospitals and health care systems around Michigan are feeling the strain of increased COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations. Over 4,000 patients are currently hospitalized with the disease, and test positivity rates are up in many regions.

One of those regions is the Thumb, where three counties have positivity rates of over 30%: Tuscola at 30.5%, Sanilac at 35.3%, and Huron at 36.9%.

Michigan will expand the use of a COVID-19 treatment in hopes of substantially reducing climbing hospitalizations and deaths. Additional doses of monoclonal antibodies will be given to hospitals and other providers, which will be asked to add infusion sites.

The treatment has concentrated doses of lab-made antibodies to fight coronavirus infections and is geared toward people who are at high risk for severe symptoms or hospitalization.

Michigan’s Suicide Prevention Commission published its first full report, recommending steps that the authors said would decrease the number of suicide attempts and deaths in the state.

“We must act now,” Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, the state’s chief medical executive, wrote. “The preventable nature of suicide makes Michigan’s current suicide rates unacceptable.”

Doctors are encouraging Michigan parents to get their children’s routine vaccines up to date.

During the COVID-19 pandemic there’s been a significant decline in the percentage of children getting their measles, mumps and other vaccines.

People living in some Detroit and Hamtramck neighborhoods will get a chance to get a COVID-19 vaccine close to home this week and next. Mobile vaccination clinics at more than a dozen sites are set to start on Wednesday April 14, and run through the following Wednesday.

State and city health officials are targeting areas at higher risk for COVID based on factors like race, housing, and transportation. Detroit's vaccination rate has consistently lagged the state average.

With an eye on his father’s bloodied face, Barry Jensen began punching numbers into his cell phone from the hospital emergency room.

When vaccinations opened to northwest Michigan’s older population, health officials reported a “crushing demand.” Now that appointments have opened to all ages, they can’t find enough people.

The health officer for the Health Department of Northwest Michigan, Lisa Peacock, says with almost half the region vaccinated, the other half seems to be hesitant.

Michigan State University is launching a student only vaccine clinic beginning Friday. 3,000 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine are being made available to students by appointment only.

Mary Stout is a senior at MSU and the director of Health, Safety and Wellness for the undergraduate student government at the university. She says she’s encouraged by the university’s focus on accessibility.

As a third, intense coronavirus wave bears down on Michigan, several hospital leaders from around the state said Thursday they have no choice but to postpone some surgical procedures to ensure they have the capacity to care for the crush of sick COVID-19 patients coming through their doors.

High school basketball finals are happening this week in Michigan.

That’s despite the fact that the director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control has recommended that Michigan, among other states, restrict indoor youth sports.

State workers who can do their jobs remotely are being told to stay home longer while Michigan gets the spread of COVID-19 under control.

Office workers were supposed to head back to their offices May 1st. Now they’re being told to expect TO work remotely through at least mid-July.

More Detroiters now say they’re very likely to get a COVID-19 vaccine than said so in the fall, according to a University of Michigan survey.

The University of Michigan’s Detroit Metro Area Communities Study regularly surveys Detroiters about their lives and communities. Its latest survey covered more than 2200 people.

West Michigan’s largest vaccination site is opening up to everyone over the age of 16, effective immediately.

Anyone who wants to sign up can schedule their COVID-10 vaccination at the West Michigan Vaccine Clinic here. The clinic is located at DeVos Place in downtown Grand Rapids.

Spectrum Health, the largest hospital system in the region, says 12,500 people got a dose of the vaccine at the clinic on Monday, the largest single day mass-vaccination in the state so far. And they plan to vaccinate more than 50,000 at the clinic this week.