Health

COVID-19 hospitalizations in Michigan continue to decline steadily at the state level.

As of Thursday, the number of confirmed COVID patients in hospitals statewide was more than 3,539, which includes pediatric patients, according to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. The number of confirmed adult patients in the intensive care unit was 830.

Michigan’s top health officials outlined plans Friday for distributing COVID-19 vaccines once they become available.

The plan includes giving first priority to frontline health care workers, emergency personnel, and people who live in nursing homes.

Though not in the first tier, childcare and K-12 school staff would also be high on the list.

Macomb County is expecting a vaccine for COVID-19 to arrive as early as next week. The county health department has obtained some of the ultra-cold freezers needed to store the Pfizer vaccine, and they've started preparing buildings for people to go get vaccinated. 

Bill Ridella is the director of the Macomb County Health Department. He says the first vaccine facility will be in Clinton Township.

The massive coronavirus vaccination effort to immunize Michigan's roughly 600,000 health care workers — and eventually the entire population — is in high gear as Pfizer's vaccine candidate undergoes a federal hearing Thursday to review whether it can be safely injected into the arms of millions of Americans.

In the scramble to stop a pandemic that's killed 288,000 people in the U.S. and 10,138 in Michigan, some metro Detroit hospital systems told the Free Press this week that they're mobilizing the biggest vaccination effort in U.S. history with so many unknowns that, in some ways, it's like they're flying in the dark.

State health leaders say there's reason for “cautious optimism” that new cases of coronavirus appear to be declining.

The test positivity rate has plateaued. New cases have been dropping for two weeks. The number of deaths is still rising, but not as quickly as before.

Those are the reasons for optimism.

“The challenge here is making sure that people are wearing masks, maintaining their social distancing, so that we don’t see a second surge,” says Sarah Lyon-Callo, director of the state’s Bureau of Epidemiology.

Gloria Vettese of Warren is haunted by the terror she felt in late March and early April, when she lay awake night after night, waiting and wondering whether COVID-19 would kill her and make her only child an orphan.

Five Michigan inmates died this past weekend of COVID-19, bringing the total number of inmate deaths statewide to 94.  

42% of state prisoners have now been infected with the coronavirus, and inmates and their loved ones say that shows the state is not keeping them safe during the pandemic.

They are calling on Governor Gretchen Whitmer to use her executive authority to commute the sentences of hundreds of inmates who are nearing the end of their minimum sentences, who also pose a low risk to the safety of the public.

The Michigan House has canceled its voting session scheduled for Tuesday following an announcement that President Donald Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani tested positive for the coronavirus.

Giuliani visited Lansing last Wednesday to testify for hours before a Republican-led committee investigating alleged election irregularities. Without wearing a mask, he pushed lawmakers to ignore the certification of Democrat Joe Biden's win over Trump and appoint electors.

The chief medical officers of Michigan's hospitals and health systems issued an urgent plea Monday to the governor and state health officials, asking for an extension through the holidays of the three-week COVID-19 restrictions that are due to expire Tuesday.

They said the temporary restrictions — which suspended in-person classes at high schools and colleges statewide, along with eat-in dining at restaurants and bars and canceled organized sports and group exercise classes — have helped to stabilize the spread of COVID-19 in Michigan, but it hasn't been enough.

Appearing before the Michigan Legislature’s Joint Select Committee on the COVID-19 Pandemic last week, state health department director Robert Gordon said that residents and staff in long-term care facilities would be one of the first groups to receive a COVID-19 vaccine when it becomes available. 

Many nursing homes will be receiving their doses free of charge from a large pharmacy chain, through a program organized by the CDC.

With Michigan experiencing another wave of COVID-19 cases, there’s a new campaign to get more African-Americans to mask up.

Tonya Adair is the Chief Impact officer for the United Way of Southeastern Michigan.  She says the United Way is partnering with the Harlem Children’s Zone on the campaign.

She says the campaign will include public service advertising and distribution of personal protective equipment in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties.

During the month of November alone, the number of people who died from COVID-19 doubled in certain hospitals and health systems across Michigan. 

Sparrow Health System recorded 50 deaths between March and October. In November, it recorded 47. (Those numbers are considered unofficial, and could change after officials review the medical records.)

Similar trends were recorded in Muskegon County and Ottawa County, both in West Michigan.

Hospital leaders are asking people to still seek medical attention, even as more hospitals reach capacity.

As of Thursday, the state listed six hospitals at 100% capacity, meaning all of their inpatient beds are occupied. More than a dozen others are above 90% capacity.

“We’re able to accommodate more than we currently have, should the need occur,” says Dr. Loren Hamel, president of Spectrum Health Lakeland, where 100% of bed are currently occupied, according to state data.

Michigan’s National Guard will continue to play an important role in the state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic into next year.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer says the Trump administration has extended authorization for Guard members to receive federal pay and benefits through the end of March.  The authorization was scheduled to expire December 31.

Hope.

A word that’s been in short supply in Michigan hospitals recently.

But now, just maybe, there's a sign of it.

The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 in Michigan declined slightly on Thursday, dropping to 3,793 adults with confirmed cases of the disease. The number is still below the peak number last seen in Michigan in the spring. But it represents a brief, welcome respite after a steep rise in cases that started in October.

COVID-19 has been raging through two Michigan prisons in recent weeks, with large outbreaks in others.

Nearly three quarters of the inmates at Kinross Correctional have tested positive for COVID-19. The facility is located in Kincheloe, a town in the U.P.

Dr. Arnold Monto thinks he and his colleagues will be back at their offices at the University of Michigan School of Public Health and otherwise resuming relatively normal lives by the spring, maybe early summer at the latest.

State health officials are watching to see how Thanksgiving holiday gatherings may affect COVID-19 case rates.

The state recommended people avoid gatherings with people from other households. But Michigan’s Chief Medical Executive, Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, said Tuesday it’s not clear yet how many people ignored that advice.

There’s no way two ways about it: November has been a dreadful month when it comes to the COVID-19 pandemic in Michigan.