Detroit is Making Headway with COVID-19
May 5, 2020
CBS Detroit - Yesterday in a press conference Mayor Duggan gave his update on the state of Detroit with Coronavirus. As of May 4th according to the State of Michigan, the total count in Wayne County so far is 7,920 cases of COVID-19 and 827 deaths. Which is about a 9.5% mortality rate to date.
However, in Detroit Mayor Duggan revealed a trend Detroit is on the decline in deaths. A sign perhaps of light at the end of the tunnel?
Duggan said overall 27% of Detroiters are testing positive, with about 26% of suburbanites. He emphasized that people wear their masks to prevent the spread, as it's possible to have the virus and present no symptoms.
"This is being done by Detroit's commitment to each other… that's what is driving number. I am deeply appreciative of the people of this city", said Duggan.
The other reason he said they are making headway in the decline is the testing they are doing. Right now testing is at about 1,500 people a day and he hopes to ramp that up to 2,000 tests a day.
Testing is being done with the help of Henry Ford Health System, The Detroit Medical Center, Trinity, Ascension, in conjunction with Wayne State University. The mayor said they working on getting transport options for people to get down to testing centers.
He thanked Dan Gilbert who donated $1 million in people and resources to staff calling centers.
With the COVID-19 numbers on the decline, Mayor Duggan called for health systems to start transitioning back to normal operations for other medical conditions. "It is very clear it is time to restart the healthcare system in this region", said Duggan, adding health systems must educate patients on care instructions and guidelines.
The Mayor thanked the city employees as part of National Public Service Week and said 200 general public service employees and 200 DPW employees have returned to work. With mandatory testing, the city is making headway in keeping those testing positive for Coronavirus at home.
"Because we have the strictest medical guidelines, and we made each of them take COVID-19 tests before they came back, we found 20 of our 200 (10%) general service employees who have been at home, tested positive. Not one of them had symptoms. 10 of our 200 (5%) DPW employees tested positive", said Duggan.
In long term care facilities in Wayne County, 71 out of 85 facilities reported 1,323 cases of COVID-19.
Denise Fair, Chief Public Health Officer for the City of Detroit said that the virus is spreading quickly among Detroit nursing homes and long term care homes. They have visited 15 long term care homes and adult foster care homes in Detroit. In testing those 15 homes to-date, they found an infection rate of 10%. Lower than the rate in nursing homes. There are 22 facilities still to test and should be finished around May 15.
The next phase Fair said was to target the senior home facilities, with about 10,000 units across the City of Detroit.
She emphasized that the presence of Novel Coronavirus is pervasive, and a presence found isn't poor management. She thanked people for doing their part in Detroit, by wearing masks and washing of hands.
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