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Beaumont Health officials talked about whether Michigan needs another COVID closure and many other issues as they painted a terrible picture of hospitals filling with COVID-19 patients.
Dr. Nick Gilpin, medical director of infection prevention, and nursing director Susan Grant spoke about Zoom, breaking the dire situation and asking Michiganders to help stop the spread of the virus.
You can see the full press conference in the video above.
Below are the critical facts and takeaways from the press conference.
Although about a quarter of Michigan’s population is vaccinated, it is still a long way from what it takes to get herd immunity.
“It takes six weeks for the vaccine to reach maximum effectiveness,” Gilpin said. For example, someone who gets the Modern vaccine (which requires two shots 28 days apart) will not get the full benefit for six weeks.
“If you also look back at our previous climbs, what was the difference?” Gilpin asked. “The difference in the first wave we experienced is that there were restrictions in the community to limit collection sizes and limit indoor activities that we know are very effective ways to transmit the coronavirus. We saw it in March and April last year. We saw it during the fall and winter months in Michigan, and I think both floods, in part, we curved because of active restrictions. “
Gilpin said he believes Michigan needs more restrictions to fight this wave. – “I think yes, we need to have some level of commitment to restrict some of these activities to 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 now has an incredibly difficult job balancing the virus with the “radioactive political environment.”
Beaumont maintains the line “as much as possible” in terms of necessary surgical procedures. Gilpin said that if someone has surgery to remove the cancer, those surgeries will not be postponed.
“But at the same time, we need to look at certain surgical procedures that are done more selectively and that may not be an urgent issue that we could postpone right now,” Gilpin said.
Many Beaumont hospitals postpone these elective surgeries because they are overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients. For example, you may need to postpone someone with a scheduled knee replacement elective that requires them to stay in the hospital days later.
Non-COVID surgical consultations are being studied on a case-by-case basis, which requires resources, but is the best way to address it, Gilpin said.
This is the third climb of COVID-19 in southeast Michigan and the fourth climb in the United States as a whole. The three Michigan hikes occurred in March / April 2020, from November to January, and right now.
During the second wave (November 2020 to January 2021), Beaumont cared for more than 700 COVID-19 patients from its eight-hospital system.
Gilpin said the third climb is “like a trail running away right now.”
There are currently more than 800 patients with COVID-19 at Beaumont’s eight hospitals.
Most Beaumont hospitals float very close to their capacity. Beaumont hospitals are expected to soon reach their ceiling in terms of capacity.
Grant said as of Thursday morning (April 15), most Beaumont hospitals have a capacity of between 90% and 95%.
“It’s tight,” Gilpin said. “Every day, each of our places 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 wave: many people avoided the hospital with problems that were not COVID 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 wave.
“If we continue to see COVID numbers increase, we will have to make some accommodations, open some extra beds, but again, the challenge here and the topic of the day is: where do we get this staff from?” Gilpin said.
Beaumont’s strategy right now to try to overcome this wave 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 25% are fully vaccinated.
“We’re seeing our younger patients in general, a slightly younger demographic,” Gilpin said. “That makes sense when you think about it because we’ve done a really good job vaccinating some of the people over 65.”
Because the most vulnerable demographic to COVID-19 moves to a younger group, Beaumont does not see as many serious cases of disease in general. But there are still incredibly sick patients.
The average age of patients in hospitals during the first two rises was in the 1960s. For this increase, the mean age has dropped to around the low 50s.
Younger patients with COVID-19 appear to have a lower severity of the disease in terms of length of stay and ICU capacity. However, there is a segment of younger patients with very severe cases of COVID-19, including children.
The increase is being driven in large part by a younger, vaccine-free demographic that is 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 of these things will drive transmission,” Gilpin said.
There are virus-specific variables, such as the UK variant B117, that are even more transmissible.
Time is also variable. Although Michigan has a warmer climate right now, it still promotes more indoor activities than outdoor activities, Gilpin said. In contrast, Florida’s warmer climate facilitates outdoor activities.
The cooler climate and drier air facilitate the circulation of the virus.
“When you look at all of these variables, I think it’s a bit of a perfect storm to explain why Michigan is where they are right now,” Gilpin said.
Beaumont has enough personal protective equipment and fans, but this climb has been extremely burdensome for its staff. – “We’re tense from the staff’s perspective,” Gilpin said.
“At this time last year, none of us would have imagined, going through those extraordinarily difficult times, that we would be here again, the same time this year,” Grant said. “That we would be working and seeing so many patients infected with the coronavirus. Hundreds and hundreds of them go through our emergencies. “
Grant said that after doing so for more than a year, hospital workers are tired and worn out both physically and mentally. – “They want this to go away.”
“This emotional exhaustion has come from experience and presence, observing the huge toll this virus has suffered on patients, families and their own personal lives,” Grant said. “They’ve seen a lot of deaths over the last year and now they live and see younger people who are in the ICU beds, who are very, very sick, in the emergency rooms and in the beds of our hospitals. Sick, and some who are dying. ”.
The nurses told Grant that the hardest part of this increase is seeing younger people entering hospitals with COVID-19. They are heartbroken by the loss and toll that young people and families continue to suffer.
Beaumont has contacted outside agencies to incorporate additional staff to help vaccine clinics and to deal with the increase in cases.
“It’s literally a handy thing, and people are willing to step up and do what they have to do, but we need help,” Grant said.
With the increase in hospital volumes, Beaumont is in contact with other health systems when it comes to possible transfers and manages the fullness of certain hospitals.
Grant was asked if he was concerned about nurses leaving the profession because of the demands the pandemic was demanding on them. – “We worry about it every day and, unfortunately, we are already seeing it. It’s very worrying. “
Some nurses who might have considered retiring in the next few years have retired early because of the stress of caring for patients with COVID-19, Grant said.
The public can start slowing the spread of the virus by doing simple things like wearing a mask, staying home when they are sick, and getting tested when they are 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 doubt or feel that coronavirus is a serious illness or that the consequences may not be serious, especially if we are young,” Gilpin said. “I think we need to rewrite that thinking, because frankly I’ve had the unfortunate opportunity to care for several very young patients without significant medical conditions who have had problems 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 take COVID than to take a vaccine against COVID, and I think that’s completely the wrong way to do it,” he said. Gilpin.
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 the vaccine when you can. Keep that social distancing, hand washing: all those things we’ve all learned so much over the last year that we know will work to be able to flatten that curve. ”
Beaumont has a structure for administering 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 small, so Beaumont could not accommodate everyone.
Beaumont has two clinics focused on monoclonal antibody treatments, but requires many resources.