Hertel said that the state is still using its ventilator inventory and requested an increase of 200 ventilators from the national strategic inventory to cope with the increasing number of hospitalized COVID patients requiring mechanically assisted breathing. The state has 80 national reserve ventilators and 724 national or healthcare alliance-owned ventilators.

As of December 8, 601 hospitalized COVID patients used ventilators, accounting for approximately 13% of all hospitalized COVID patients. Last week, an average of 87 people died of COVID in Michigan hospitals every day. Since the pandemic began, nearly 25,000 people in Michigan have died of COVID-19.

A new, more contagious variant: omicron, has emerged in the state, which may exacerbate the recent surge.The new variant that has quickly spread to 25 states is First discovered in Michigan On Thursday in Kent County on the west side of the state. Michigan Chief Medical Officer Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian (Natasha Bagdasarian) said that the case of omicron in Kent County is considered minor.

Early signs indicate that omicron is more contagious than the highly contagious delta variant, but its effects are less severe. However, as the number of patients in the hospital becomes too large, adding new variants to the mix will bring greater and more severe logistical challenges.

Michigan Medicine in Ann Arbor has 40 operations cancelled this Wednesday Dr. David Miller, physician and president of the University of Michigan Health System, told reporters earlier this week that in order to redeploy employees to take care of more COVID patients.

Coupled with the ongoing labor shortage—the system has more than 400 vacancies—Michigan Medicine also closed the intensive care beds of its pediatric hospital to ensure that its emergency and intensive care units are better staffed.

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“Patients who have not undergone surgery in time are dying,” said Dr. Marschall Runge, Chief Executive Officer and Dean of the School of Medicine, Michigan Medical College. “(People who have not been vaccinated) are risking the lives of others, and they may die from preventable diseases that do not have access to medical care.”

Bagdasarian said the number of deaths not caused by COVID-19 is also increasing, which shows that hospitals are overwhelmed and care is affected. According to state data, the number of deaths exceeded the previous average in four of the past eight weeks.

Health officials across the state begged residents to be vaccinated. Michigan’s vaccination rate ranks 32nd in the country, accounting for only 55.46% of the population.

Vermont is the state with the highest vaccination rate in the country, at 74.52%.

Hertel said: “We all agree that we are ready to deal with this pandemic, but the pandemic is not over yet.” “Now, everyone in the state has the opportunity to pass vaccination and make 5 years old. Children above and above get vaccinated to lower the number.”

When asked if there are any restrictions or regulations, such as wearing masks in schools, as it did at the beginning of the pandemic, Herzell replied that the state is urging to wear masks, vaccinations and other preventive measures, but there is no promise Any task.

This story first appeared in our sister publication, Crane’s Detroit business.