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Beaumont Health officials talked about whether Michigan needs another COVID stop and many other topics, while painting a horrible picture of hospitals filling with COVID-19 patients.
Dr. Nick Gilpin, medical director of infection prevention, and chief medical officer Susan Grant spoke about Zoom, breaking down the serious situation and calling on Michiganders to help stop the spread of the virus.
You can watch the full press conference in the video above.
Here are the critical facts and dishes from the press conference.
While about a quarter of Michigan’s population is vaccinated, this is still far from what is needed to get herd immunity.
“It takes six weeks for the vaccine to reach maximum effectiveness,” Gilpin said. For example, someone who receives the Moderna vaccine – which requires two shots 28 days apart – will not receive the maximum benefit for six weeks.
“If you look back at our previous growths, what’s the difference?” Gilpin asked. “The difference between the first increase we experienced is that there were restrictions in the community to limit the size of the assembly and limit the activities inside, which we know are very effective ways of transmitting the coronavirus. I saw her in March and April last year. We saw it in the fall and winter months in Michigan and both surges, I think, we curved, in part, because of active restrictions. ”
Gilpin said he believes Michigan needs more restrictions to combat this growth. – “I think so, we need to have a certain level of commitment to restrict some of those activities in the community.”
“At a time like this, right now, in southeast Michigan and Michigan in general, I think we need to be a little more prescriptive right now,” Gilpin said.
Gilpin said Whitmer has an incredibly difficult job now 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 that if someone is operated on to remove the cancer, these surgeries are not delayed.
“But at the same time, we need to look at certain surgical procedures that are done on a more elective basis, which may not be an urgent issue that we could postpone right now,” Gilpin said.
Many hospitals in Beaumont postpone these elective surgeries because they are overwhelmed by patients with COVID-19. For example, someone with a scheduled elective knee replacement that would require them to remain in the hospital for a few days after that should be postponed.
Non-COVID operations are examined on a case-by-case basis, which requires resources, but is the best approach, Gilpin said.
This is the third increase in COVID-19 for southeast Michigan and the fourth increase for the United States as a whole. The three surges in Michigan took place in March / April 2020, November to January and right now.
During the second wave (November 2020 to January 2021), Beaumont cared for more than 700 COVID-19 patients in its eight-hospital system.
Gilpin said the third increase is “just like a runway right now.”
There are over 800 patients with COVID-19 in the eight hospitals in Beaumont right now.
Most hospitals in Beaumont float very close to their capacity. Hospitals in Beaumont are expected to soon be at their peak in terms of capacity.
Grant said that as of Thursday morning (April 15), most hospitals in Beaumont have a capacity of between 90% and 95%.
“It’s tight,” Gilpin said. “Every day, each of our sites meets very actively to see what they can do to create space.”
So far, Beaumont hospitals have not had to create additional space or move patients to the lawn.
Another factor that helped fill the capacity of the hospital during this increase: many people avoided the hospital with non-COVID problems last year because they were afraid to enter with so many COVID patients. The hospitals were almost exclusively COVID hospitals. This is not the case during this growth.
“If we continue to see an increase in the number of COVIDs, we will have to make some adjustments, open some extra beds, but again, the challenge here and the theme of the day is: where will we get that staff?” Gilpin said.
The strategy for Beaumont right now in trying to get through this growth is to vaccinate as many people as possible.
About 40% of Michigan residents over the age of 16 have received at least one dose of vaccine and about 25% are fully vaccinated.
“We see younger patients in general in our hospitals – a slightly younger demographic,” Gilpin said. “That makes sense when you think about it, because we did a very good job of vaccinating some of the people over 65 years old.
As the demographics that are most vulnerable to COVID-19 move to a younger group, Beaumont does not see as many severe cases of the disease in general. But there are still incredibly sick patients.
The average age of hospital patients in the first two surges was in the 1960s. For this increase, the average age decreases to around 50 years.
Younger patients with COVID-19 appear to have a lower severity of the disease in terms of length of stay and intensive care capacity. However, there is a segment of younger patients with very severe cases of COVID-19, including children.
The growth is largely caused by a younger, unvaccinated demographic group doing more things in the community that will spread the virus.
People gather in large groups, spend more time indoors and visit bars and restaurants. “We know all this will drive the transmission,” Gilpin said.
There are virus-specific variables, such as the UK variant B117, which are even more transmissible.
Weather is also a variable. Even though Michigan has warmer weather now, it is still conducive to more indoor activities than outdoor activities, Gilpin said. By contrast, Florida’s warmer climate makes it easier for people to do outdoor activities.
Colder weather and drier air make it easier for the virus to move.
“When you look at all these variables, I think it’s a bit of a perfect storm to explain why Michigan is where it is now,” Gilpin said.
Beaumont has enough personal protective equipment and fans, but this growth has been extremely impressive for its staff. “We are tense from a staff perspective,” Gilpin said.
“At this point last year, none of us would have imagined, going through that extraordinarily difficult time, that we would be here again at the same time this year,” Grant said. “That we will work and see so many patients who are infected with the coronavirus. Hundreds and hundreds of them coming through our emergency room. ”
Grant said that after doing this for more than a year now, hospital workers are tired and worn out both physically and mentally. “They want this to go away.”
“This emotional exhaustion came from experience and presence, observing the enormous amount that this virus has suffered on patients, on families, on their own personal lives,” Grant said. “They have seen a lot of deaths in the last year, and now they are facing and seeing younger people who are in our intensive care beds, who are very, very sick, who are in the emergency room and our hospital beds are sick. and some who die. ”
The nurses told Grant that the hardest part of this growth is seeing younger people entering hospitals with COVID-19. They are crazy about the loss and the taxes that young people and families still have.
Beaumont has contacted outside agencies to bring in additional staff to help with vaccine clinics and cope with growing cases.
“It’s literally a hand on the deck, and people are willing to step up and do what they have to do, but we need help,” Grant said.
With the increase in the volume of hospitals, Beaumont is in contact with other health systems when it comes to possible transfers and the management of the completion of certain hospitals.
Grant was asked if she was concerned that nurses were leaving the profession due to the demands of the pandemic. – “We worry every day and, unfortunately, we already see it. It’s very worrying. “
Some nurses who may have considered retiring in the coming years withdrew early because of the care strains of COVID-19 patients, Grant said.
The public can start slowing the spread of the virus by doing simple things, such as wearing a mask, staying home when sick, and getting tested when sick.
Most importantly, Michiganders should be vaccinated as soon as possible – as soon as they are eligible to do so.
“We all know people in our lives who have doubts or who do not feel that coronavirus is a severe disease or that the consequences may not be serious – especially if we are young,” said Gilpin. “I think we need to rewrite this thinking, because, frankly, we have had the unfortunate opportunity to care for a number of very young patients without significant medical conditions who have struggled with COVID.”
“I’m worried that we’re so upset about this, that it would be better to get COVID than to get a COVID vaccine, and I think that’s just the wrong way to go,” Gilpin said.
Gilpin said people should have conversations with close people who doubt the vaccine and encourage them to get vaccinated. – “The vaccine works absolutely”.
“Don’t leave us now,” Grant said. “Stay with us. Keep doing your part. Keep wearing the mask. Get your vaccine when you can. Keep social distance, hand washing – all those things we’ve all learned so much about last year that we know will work, so we can flatten that curve. ”
Beaumont has a structure to provide monoclonal antibodies to patients.
It is a complicated process, with many logistical considerations, but Beaumont uses resources and has a team working on this front.
“It’s a delicate balance between supply and demand,” Gilpin said. When monoclonal antibodies were first available, demand was high and supply was low, so Beaumont could not accommodate everyone.
Beaumont has two clinics that focus on monoclonal antibody treatments, but are very resource intensive.