MICHIGAN, USA — COVID-19 cases in the state of Michigan are surging at an alarming rate.
"We're seeing a surge in percent positivity. So more people in the last few weeks that are getting tested for COVID are turning up positive than those in all of the previous weeks in the last few months," said Dr. Brian Kaminski, the Vice President of Quality and Patient Safety with ProMedica Health System.
It's caused Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to plead with those who live in the state.
"We're going to have some tough weeks ahead. So I'm asking everyone, please take this seriously," said Whitmer.
On the heels of the request from the governor, various Michigan hospitals have reacted.
Several have pulled back on elective procedures.
Kaminski says the surge is largely due to the B117 COVID variant which is more contagious and deadly.
ProMedica keeps up with the numbers since it has three hospitals in Michigan.
"We have a number of different measures that we can take when cases go up and it threatens hospital capacity and stresses the hospitals. We're not there yet. So we haven't done anything related to canceling elective procedures and surgeries," said Kaminski.
But Michigan Medicine in Ann Arbor has.
It's one of those hospitals experiencing what they call record high emergency room and admission volumes.
This is for both COVID-19 and non-COVID care this week.
"Due to rising occupancy and forecasts for continued high demand for emergency care and admissions, Michigan Medicine has had to make the difficult decision to reschedule a small number of scheduled surgeries late this week and next week in order to maintain safe occupancy levels," reads a statement sent to WTOL 11 from a Michigan Medicine spokesperson.
"We all know that elective is a relative term because some things that we would classify as elective are absolutely necessary to the people that are receiving them," said Kaminski.
So how can you help get these hospitals get back on track?
"The number one thing is get vaccinated. I'll stress that these people who are suffering from severe disease that are hospitalized that are sick from COVID right now. As a general rule in largely are people who have not been fully vaccinated," said Kaminski.
Michigan Medicine says its constantly monitoring the evolving situation and will make further adjustments to ensure scheduling aligns with staffing and hospital room availability.