Latest COVID surge ‘hammers ER workers’

ANN ARBOR – At the beginning of the year, the Michigan Medicine emergency department barely received any COVID patients. But that changed at the end of March when nine patients suddenly tested positive for COVID-19, six of them in hospital.

The latest spring wave has hit hospital systems in Metro Detroit hard, and with cases and deaths continuing to rise, health officials are on the alert.

“It marked a sudden departure from where we had been,” Brad Uren, a physician in Michigan Medicine’s department of emergency medicine, said in a press release. “Now we need to get this under control because this has the potential to overwhelm the healthcare system.”

Read: 54 Takeaways: Beaumont Officials on Michigan Restrictions, Dire Hospital Situation, COVID Statistics

Hours said that while people stayed home last year as the state – and the world – scrambled to learn more about the new virus and how it’s spreading, the lack of restrictions on gathering and dining has contributed to the current numbers.

“People stayed at home, people isolated and masked themselves, we were aloof,” said Uren in a press release. “Now we are not that diligent, and there is another COVID spike on top of the regular volume we see in the emergency department during normal activities. And the combination of the two escalates. “

Michigan currently has the highest seven-day case rate in the country, and beds are quickly filling up in hospitals.

“We are used to operating in challenging times,” said Uren in a press release. “But we’re working close to the edge of the envelope of what many of us would consider normal at this point.”

Another worrying factor: COVID patients at Michigan Medicine are getting younger.

Hours said this is likely due to the priority older adults are given to getting the first vaccines against COVID-19, and then to the fact that people in their 20s and 50s are more likely to work outside the home and be more mobile.

Emergency visits for COVID in the hospital’s pediatric population have also seen a 10-20% bump, according to Michigan Medicine.

Read: Michigan COVID Stats: Cases, Hospital Admissions, Positivity Rate ‘Incredibly Concerning’

While it’s rare for a child to be admitted for COVID symptoms, they are those with pre-existing conditions.

“We are seeing an increase in COVID in children, many in the young adolescent age group, possibly driven by transmission due to school athletic sports,” said Prashant Mahajan, chief of the pediatric emergency department at Michigan Medicine CS Mott Children’s Hospital. release.

Both doctors suspect that rising cases in younger populations are due to the more contagious B.1.1.7 variant, which is known to be active in Michigan.

A major concern in childhood COVID cases is the development of a rare multisystem inflammatory syndrome called MIS-C.

“We haven’t seen many of those kids, but that’s something we have to anticipate,” Mahajan said in a press release. “The other thing that is really unknown is what proportion of children end up getting long-term effects from the virus, which is now increasingly recognized in adults with COVID.”

Read: The University of Michigan physician answers questions from parents about the dangerous COVID condition in children

Despite a steady increase in vaccinations, this new wave is starting to show pressure on hospital workers, Uren said.

“I see that in the faces of my colleagues every day,” he said in a press release. “We work as a team and I am so proud of them for keeping this up for so long, but it weighs on people.”

Doctors at Michigan Medicine’s emergency department ask people to get the vaccine, limit who they interact with, and follow social aloofness and masking.

“I fear hesitation with vaccines will slow us down and continue to cause us problems, even after a time when vaccines could return us to normal,” Uren said in a press release. “We are ready to be done with the virus. It is not finished yet with us. “

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