Six months after most vaccinations, a quarter of all COVID deaths and hospitalizations are breakthrough cases. Most severe cases, though, are among the unvaccinated.
Michigan Health Watch
In-depth reporting on the intersection between public policy and important health topics ‒ such as insurance coverage, hospital admissions, opioid abuse, access to care, medical research and the business of health care ‒ that impact nearly every Michigan resident.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
Michigan hospitals at COVID-induced capacities, as moods turn angrier
For more than two months, healthcare leaders have warned of packed hospitals. Frazzled doctors, nurses and other staff are sometimes fending off angry patients, some with nowhere else to go.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
Bomb threats, school closings tighten student stress after Oxford shootings
A school shooting, “uniquely horrific” on its own, has been layered on top of two years of uncertainty and anger for Michigan’s youth. No one should expect a “normal” school day any time soon, experts say.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
85% of Michigan inpatient and ICU beds are full, some patients turned away
Spectrum Health in west Michigan hit a system-level record high for patients, forcing them to turn away more transfer patients from smaller or more rural hospitals. ‘It’s heartbreaking,’ the system’s president said.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
U.S. military medical teams to aid Michigan as COVID swamps hospitals
The U.S. Defense Department is sending teams to health systems in metro Detroit and Grand Rapids to help overwhelmed staff deal with a surge of COVID, other patients. Michigan now leads the nation in hospitalization and COVID case rates.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
As COVID rises, CDC approves boosters for all adults, Michigan urges masks
Federal health authorities Friday approved boosters to be made available for millions more U.S. adults. While in Lansing, the state health department pleaded for residents to wear masks but stopped short of a mandate.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
COVID testing is critical in Michigan. But how soon is too soon?
Testing too early after you’ve been exposed to COVID, or “panic testing,” will likely offer little more than a false sense of security. With holidays beckoning, this “gray zone” in testing could unwittingly spread infection.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
5 million Michiganders are vaccinated and COVID is surging. Here’s why
There are as many COVID cases today as a year ago despite the availability of vaccines. The reasons are both complicated and simple.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
University of Michigan flu outbreak prompts worries of statewide jump
Flu season ignites in southeast Michigan with more than 500 cases — enough to bring CDC staff on-site to monitor and assist, and resurrecting fears among health officials of a COVID and flu “twindemic” this winter.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
Hospitals filling up as Michigan records highest COVID case rate in U.S.
Doctors warn of dangerous days ahead as the state’s hospitals care for more than 3,200 patients with COVID for the first time since early May. That’s a 40-percent jump in two weeks.