Michigan is moving into dangerous new territory with COVID-19. A research group has upped the risk level from ‘high’ to 'active or imminent outbreak'.
The group is called COVID Act Now and they’re a team of technologists, epidemiologists, health experts and policy leaders. And when you look at their modeling site, you can see that almost half of the US is now red. Including Michigan. And here’s what they are saying: “Michigan is either actively experiencing an outbreak or is at extreme risk." And "COVID cases are exponentially growing and/or Michigan's COVID preparedness is significantly below international standards." Now, it appears that our risk status was changed because our case numbers are continuing to go up and up. If you look at last week alone, Michigan had over 13,000 new cases. That’s the most we've had reported since the pandemic began.
We now have a positive rate of 6.4. Now that may not sound alarming, but a month ago we were at 3.7%. So the percentage of COVID tests coming back positive has almost doubled. This shows that the virus is really spreading more than it has in the past. And it’s not because we’re doing more testing as some people falsely believe.
Right now Michigan’s Intensive care unit bed capacity is 24% according to COVID Act Now. And they’re predicting that we’ll likely have enough beds available to handle a new wave of infections. However, let’s not see this as an excuse to let our guard down. Now is the time to make good decisions to help keep ourselves, our loved one, and our community safe. Remember we are all in this together.
This week on the Dr. Nandi show, “Does Cancer Have to Be Treated Just One Way?” While we certainly have come a long way in the medical field, Dr. Nandi interviews experts who believe in more than one method of cancer treatment. You'll also hear from special guest Chris Wark who shares how he skipped chemotherapy and changed his lifestyle that saved his life. Tune in this Sunday, November 1st at 1 pm to learn alternative ways to help beat cancer.
Additional Coronavirus information and resources:
Click here for a page with resources including a COVID-19 overview from the CDC, details on cases in Michigan, a timeline of Governor Gretchen Whitmer's orders since the outbreak, coronavirus' impact on Southeast Michigan, and links to more information from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, the CDC and the WHO.
View a global coronavirus tracker with data from Johns Hopkins University.