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MDHHS: Cases Are Surging, Hospitals Are Full, And The Omicron Variant Is In Michigan, Officials Give COVID Update

(CBS DETROIT)- On Friday State Health officials announced Michigan is once again leading the nation in COVID-19 cases, and the situation is dire.

"The situation in our state is critical right now cases are surging, hospitals are full and we have a new variant," said Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, MDHHS chief medical executive

Health officials announced late Thursday one case of the Omicron variant has been detected in Kent County on the states westside. During a press COVID update today, officials say cases are higher than this time last year, and the concerning trend continues to go up.

"In terms of our in-patient beds that are filled with COVID-19 patients we are at an all-time high were at 21.5% in previous surges we have never exceeded 20%," Bagdasarian said.

This is putting a major strain on hospitals. Three hospital systems in the state have enlisted the help of workers from FEMA including Beaumont Dearborn to assist with the influx of patients.

Michigan Medicine this week was forced to cancel or delay surgeries due to the high number of COVID cases there.

"People have died and will die of non COVID-19 disease in our area across the state, and across the nation because COVID-19 is overrunning hospitals," said CEO of Michigan Medicine, dean of U-M Medical School and executive vice president for medical affairs at the University of Michigan, Marschall S. Runge, M.D., Ph.D.

Hospital staff also overwhelmed. The majority of extreme and deadly cases are among the unvaccinated.

"When we look at Michigan data from September this year, unvaccinated had a 4.4 times higher risk testing positive for COVID-19 and they had a 9.3 times risk of dying from COVID-19," Bagdasarian said,

Officials say with the holidays approaching and more people gathering, they expect cases to increase even more and suggest getting vaccinated and a booster for those eligible and wearing masks when in crowds.

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