The Beaumont Health official believes Michigan should impose more COVID-19 restrictions

Add the medical director of infection prevention at Beaumont Health to the list of experts who believe Michigan should impose more COVID-19 restrictions to slow the spread of the virus.

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

Dr. Nick Gilpin said Thursday (April 14) that he agrees with the director of the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention, who believes Michigan should close to stop the alarming spread of COVID-19.

“I think we do need to have a degree of commitment to limit some of those activities in the community,” Gilpin said.

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He pointed out how COVID-19 statistics improved after the stay-at-home order last spring and the two and a half month hiatus this winter.

“If you also look back on our previous peaks, what was the difference?” Gilpin asked. “The difference from the first wave we experienced is that there were community constraints to limit the size of the collections and indoor activities, which we know are very effective ways of transmitting coronavirus. We saw it in March and April last year. We saw it in the fall and winter months in Michigan, and both peaks, I think, have warped in part due to active restraints. “

Gilpin and CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky both said it would be difficult for Michigan to change its statistics simply by relying on vaccinations.

“It takes six weeks for the vaccine to be fully effective,” said Gilpin. For example, someone who gets the Moderna vaccine – which requires two shots 28 days apart – won’t have the full benefit for six weeks.

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He said Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who has said several times in the past week that it has no intention of imposing more restrictions, is in a very difficult position to balance the virus with the “radioactive political environment.”

But now that the statewide case and positivity rates are five times higher than in mid-February, he thinks it’s the right step to impose more restrictions.

“At a time like this, right now, in Southeast Michigan and Michigan in general, I think we need to be a little bit more normative at this point,” Gilpin said.