Beaumont Officials on Michigan Restrictions, Serious Hospital Situation, COVID Statistics

While about a quarter of Michigan’s population has been vaccinated, it is still a long way from what is needed to establish herd immunity.

“It takes six weeks for the vaccine to reach full effectiveness,” Gilpin said. For example, someone who gets the Moderna vaccine – which requires two shots 28 days apart – will not have the full benefit for six weeks.

“If you also look at our previous rises, what was the difference?” Ask Gilpin. ‘The difference in the first boom we experienced was that there were restrictions in the community to limit the size of the event and limit indoor activities, which we know are very effective ways to transmit coronavirus. We saw it in March and April last year. We saw it in the fall and winter months in Michigan, and I believe we both bowed those thrusts in part due to active constraints. ”

Gilpin said he believes Michigan needs more restrictions to fight this boom. – “I think yes, we need to have some commitment to limit some of the activities in the community.”

“At a time like this, in southeast Michigan and Michigan in general, I think we need to be a little more prescriptive now,” Gilpin said.

Gilpin said Whitmer currently has an incredibly difficult task in balancing the virus with the ‘radioactive political environment’.

Beaumont maintains the line “as much as possible” in terms of the necessary surgical procedures. Gilpin said if someone undergoes surgery to remove cancer, the surgeries will not be postponed.

“But at the same time, we need to look at certain surgical procedures that are done on a more selective basis, which may not be an urgent matter that we can possibly postpone now,” Gilpin said.

Many Beaumont hospitals postpone the elective cures because they are overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients. For example, someone with a suitable elective knee replacement that requires them to stay in the hospital for days thereafter may need to be postponed.

Non-COVID operations are being investigated on a case-by-case basis, which requires resources but is the best way to approach them, Gilpin said.

This is the third COVID-19 boom for Southeast Michigan and the fourth boom for the United States as a whole. The three increases in Michigan were in March / April 2020, November to January and currently.

During the second boom (November 2020 to January 2021), Beaumont cared for more than 700 COVID-19 patients in its eight-hospital system.

Gilpin said the third boom is “now just like a runaway.”

There are currently more than 800 patients with COVID-19 in Beaumont’s eight hospitals.

Most Beaumont hospitals operate very close to their capacity. Beaumont hospitals are expected to be on their ceiling soon in terms of capacity.

Grant said that Thursday morning (April 15) most Beaumont hospitals have between 90% and 95% capacity.

“It’s stiff,” Gilpin said. “Every day, each of our sites comes together very actively to see what they can do to create space.”

So far, Beaumont hospitals have not had to create extra space or move patients to the lawn.

Another factor that contributes to the hospital’s capacity being full during this boom: many people avoided the hospital last year with non-COVID problems because they were afraid to go into so many COVID patients. Hospitals were almost exclusively COVID hospitals. This is not the case during this boom.

“If we continue to increase COVID numbers, we need to make accommodation, open extra beds, but the challenge here and the theme of the day is again: where are we going to get the staff from?” Gilpin said.

The strategy for Beaumont to try to get this process right is to get as many people vaccinated as possible.

About 40% of Michigan residents over the age of 16 have received at least one dose of the vaccine, and about 25% have been completely vaccinated.

“We see in our hospitals younger patients in general – a little younger demographics,” Gilpin said. “It makes sense when you think about it, because we’ve done a very good job of vaccinating some people over the age of 65.”

Since demographics are the most vulnerable to the shift of COVID-19 to a younger group, Beaumont generally does not see as many serious cases of disease. But there are still incredibly sick patients.

The average age of patients in hospitals during the first two increases was in the 60s. For this boom, the average age in the low 50s is lower.

Younger patients with COVID-19 appear to have a lower severity of the disease in terms of length of stay and capacity of the ICU. However, there is a segment of younger patients with very severe cases of COVID-19, including children.

The boom is mainly driven by a younger, non-vaccinated demographic doing more things in the community that will spread the virus.

People gather in large groups, spend more time indoors and visit pubs and restaurants. “We know all this will drive the transfer,” Gilpin said.

There are virus-specific variables, such as the B117 variant from the UK, that are even more transmissible.

Weather is also a variable. Although Michigan now has warmer weather, it is still conducive to more indoor activities than outdoor activities, Gilpin said. In contrast, Florida’s warmer climate makes it easier for people to do outdoors.

The cooler weather and drier air make it easier for the virus to move around.

“If you look at all of these variables, I think it’s a perfect storm to explain why Michigan is where they are now,” Gilpin said.

Beaumont has enough personal protective equipment and fans, but this boom has greatly burdened its staff. “We are tense from a staff perspective,” Gilpin said.

“At this point last year, none of us could have imagined the extraordinarily difficult time we would be here again, the same time this year,” Grant said. ‘That we would work and see so many patients infected with the coronavirus. Hundreds and hundreds of them come through our emergency rooms. ”

According to Grant, hospital workers, after doing so for more than a year, were physically and mentally exhausted. – “They want it to go away.”

“The emotional exhaustion came about because of the experience and its presence, given the enormous toll that patients, families and their own personal lives took,” Grant said. ‘They’ve seen a lot of death over the last year, and now they’re experiencing and seeing younger people in our ICU beds, who’s very, very sick, in the emergencies and our hospital beds who’s very sick and some die. ”

Nurses told Grant the hardest part of this boom is getting young people to the hospitals with COVID-19. They are saddened by the loss and toll that young people and families are still taking.

Beaumont contacted external agencies to raise additional staff to help with vaccination clinics and to deal with the increase in cases.

“It’s literally everything on the deck, and people are willing to act and do what they have to do, but we need help,” Grant said.

As hospital volumes increase, Beaumont is in contact with other health systems when it comes to possible transfers and managing how full certain hospitals become.

Grant was asked if she was worried about nurses leaving the profession because of the demands the pandemic was making on them. – “We are worried about it every day, and unfortunately we already see it. This is very worrying. ”

Some nurses who would have considered retirement in the coming years retired early due to the stress of caring for COVID-19 patients, Grant said.

The public can start slowing down the spread of the virus by doing simple things like wearing a mask, staying home when you are sick and getting sick.

Most importantly, Michiganders should be vaccinated as soon as possible as soon as they are eligible.

“We all know people in our lives who doubt, or who do not feel, that coronavirus is a serious disease, or that the consequences may not be serious – especially when we are young,” Gilpin said. “I think we need to rewrite this thinking, because honestly, I had the unfortunate opportunity to care for a number of very young patients without significant medical conditions who were struggling with COVID.”

‘I’m just worried that we’re so upside down in terms of our thinking about this, that it would be better to get COVID than to get a COVID vaccine, and I think that’s completely the wrong way to do it, Gilpin said.

Gilpin said people should have conversations with people close to them who have doubts about the vaccine and should encourage them to be vaccinated. – “The vaccine does not work at all.”

“Do not leave us now,” Grant said. “Stay with us. Continue to do your part. Keep wearing your mask. Get your vaccine if you can. Maintain the social distance, hand washing – all the things we have learned so much about over the past year that we will work so that we can flatten this curve. ”

Beaumont does have a structure to deliver monoclonal antibodies to patients.

It’s a complicated process with a lot of logistical considerations, but Beaumont uses resources and has a team working on it.

“It’s a fine balance between supply and demand,” Gilpin said. When monoclonal antibodies were first available, demand was high and supply was small, so Beaumont could not accommodate everyone.

Beaumont has two clinics that focus on the monoclonal antibody treatments, but it is very resource intensive.