The director of infectious disease research at Royal Oak Hospital in Beaumont is pondering what is driving the increase in COVID-19 in Michigan. He calls for a reduction in schools and restaurants to control variants.
According to the state, there are 3,300 people hospitalized with COVID-19 in Michigan, and variants that spread across the state play an important role.
“Some of them do nothing, but some can make it more infectious, others can make it more dangerous and deadly,” Dr. Matthew Sims said. “Some of them may make it difficult to protect the capacity of the vaccine.”
Sims said he saw COVID-19 first-hand as director of infectious disease research at Beaumont Royal Oak. 40% of patients in their hospital have variant B.1.1.7.
Compare the spread of the infection as if the virus were going through an open door.
“What happens is that when you open the state, you open the door wider. So you potentially let more viruses through,” he said. “Now, take a more contagious variant and that’s like going through the door.”
B.1.351 along with the highly contagious variants of B.1.1.7 have been identified in our state, but strain B.1.1.7 is spreading everywhere.
There have been about 2,000 cases identified by the state health department, but that figure is likely to be much higher. A state laboratory is needed to determine the strain.
“If you want to go the other way, you want to stop it, you have to close the door, restaurants, sporting events. I know the governor doesn’t want to do that. I know Dr. Khaldun doesn’t want to do that. Our numbers are rising. , they won’t go down, ”he said.