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MUSKEGON, MI – Muskegon County is in “dire straits” with coronavirus deaths soaring to 22 in less than a week, three nursing homes where all residents test positive for COVID-19 and a call to the National Guard to help treat the hospitalized.
That’s according to Kathy Moore, director of the Muskegon County health department, who said people were getting sicker and sicker from a rapidly spreading virus that appears to be more “aggressive.”
Testing for COVID-19 may need to be limited due to a staff shortage and a potential shortage of supplies, Moore told MLive on Thursday, November 12.
It was a grim report from the health director of a county that has one of the highest test positivity rates in the state – nearly 20% in the past seven days.
“We’re really in dire straits right now,” Moore said. “Think of Thanksgiving and the coming of Christmas and New Years. We could put ourselves in a terrible situation.
She said residents should only socialize with members of their own household. Contact tracing finds positive cases among “social butterflies” who attend parties, go to movies and church, and eat with those they don’t live with, she said.
“I really think we all absolutely have to work together to move forward,” she said. “Otherwise, we’ll dig a bigger hole.”
The county has reported 3,955 cumulative COVID-19 cases, including 2,299 considered “active”, as of Wednesday, November 11. This represents an increase of 940 cases since November 5. The deaths stood at 107, an increase of 16 since Monday. .
“The severity of positive cases has increased, as indicated by hospitalizations, and now also deaths,” Moore said.
Related: Employees describe ‘chaos’, fear and tears at Mercy Health in COVID-19 ravaged Muskegon
Mercy Health Muskegon reported “more” than 120 hospital admissions on Wednesday, more than double the 58 less than a week earlier. Mercy officials have said they are at full capacity, with the biggest concern being the understaffing made worse by COVID-19 infections among them.
Another 54 employees of Mercy Health Muskegon have been reported infected with COVID-19 in the past day, according to Andrea Avoceda, president of SEIU Healthcare Michigan, which represents 1,800 employees of the Muskegon hospital system. That brings the total to 179, she said.
A shortage of staff to care for the growing number of COVID-19 hospital patients, along with a lack of space for them at Mercy Hospital, prompted Moore to seek help from the state. She said she had asked National Guard health clinicians to help treat patients in a 20-bed unit officials would like to open at Hackley Hospital, which Mercy Health shut down ago. a few weeks.
The state responded that it was working on a more regionalized effort, without committing to specifically helping Muskegon, Moore said.
In a message to the community on Wednesday, Mercy Health Muskegon president Gary Allore said he was “imploring” residents to keep gatherings to a maximum of 10 people as well as to be vigilant about hand washing, social distancing and the wearing of masks.
He said there had been more than 120 COVID-19 positive patients in Mercy in recent days, up from a hospitalization peak of 33 last spring.
The COVID-19 outbreak has hit older people particularly hard. Three Muskegon County nursing homes have had all residents – a total of around 60 – tested positive for the virus, Moore said. The test positivity rate for their employees was 40%, she said.
Related: Coronavirus outbreak reported in Muskegon second prison
Of the 22 deaths last week, 11 were in people aged 80 and over and five were in people aged 70, according to health department data.
There were five deaths among those in their 60s, including one who did not have “underlying health issues,” Moore said. There was also one additional death of a person in their 40s, according to health department records.
Moore said contact tracing has found more people who have had contact with people who are positive for COVID are also testing positive. However, testing may need to be scaled down due to a “capacity issue” including insufficient staff to handle testing as well as uncertainty over test supplies in the future.
“I think we’re getting to a point where we may need to take a break and implement restrictions on testing,” she said. “It’s because of the numbers.”
Health department figures show 8,334 tests were administered from Nov. 5 to 11, according to health department figures.
Cumulative test results, as of Wednesday and reported by the health department, show 374 cases among young people under 20, up 67 from November 5; 629 among people in their 20s, up 146 since November 5; 583 among those in their 30s, up from 131; 586 of those in their 40s, up to 145; 640 cases among those in their 50s, up from 161; 533 cases among those in their 60s, up from 143; 326 among 70-year-olds, up from 89; and 282 among those 80 and over, up from 58.
The total death toll in Muskegon County includes 57 people aged 80 and over, 21 in their 60s, 22 in their 60s, five in their 50s and two in their 40s.
Ottawa County reported 8,330 cases on Wednesday, up 1,541 since Nov. 5, and 91 deaths, up from seven.
There have been 789 cases and eight deaths reported in Oceana County.
Also on MLive:
Western Michigan hospitals are more familiar with the virus now, but do they have enough staff for another outbreak?
Wait times for COVID-19 tests increase with new cases
Coronavirus Overwhelms Michigan Hospitals, Executives Warn; ‘the system can capsize’
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