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Covid nunbers are less numbing this year as local and statewide declines continue in all categories.
(Photo: Spectrum Health System)
Michigan has averaged 1,793 new cases per day since Saturday, the lowest daily average since the first week of September -- just over five months ago.
Hospital data also remains encouraging as we approach the second anniversary of Michigan's first pandemic signs in mid-March 2020.
There were 2,166 adult in-patients with confirmed or suspected coronavirus Monday morning, down 54% since Jan. 14. Pediatric hospitalization for Covid fell by half to 70 during the last four weeks, according to new health department data and Deadline Detroit records of earlier reports from Lansing.
Five weeks ago to the day, 4,900 adults were hospitalized with Covid-19 -- the state's highest total of the panedmic.
In addition, fewer Michiganians eople are seeking coronavirus tests and far fewer are coming back positive.
"Things are definitely getting better," says Dr. Darryl Elmouchi, president of Spectrum Health West Michigan, at the group's site Monday. "If you could see under the mask, you might see a few more smiles from our team members because they likely feel slightly less burdened."
Dr. Daryl Elmouchi: "We're steadily shifting into a different phase." (Photo: Spectrum Health System)
In six Southeast Michigan counties, the 974 adult hospital pateints with the virus are 63% fewer than in mid-January, while the 40 hospitalized teens and children are down 58% in the region (tricounty Metro Detroit and three surrounding counties).
In a post by Spectrum, which is merging with Beaumont Health, Dr. Elmouchi adds:
"The pandemic, sadly, is not over. But we are very hopeful that we're steadily shifting into a different phase of the pandemic where things are more manageable. ...
"We're going to learn to live with an endemic of Covid-19. It's never going to go away. It's just going to get better and better.”
To understand what endemic means, the Grand Rapids doctor suggests: "Think of chicken pox. ... We don’t have these huge spikes happening all over at the same time."
-- Alan Stamm
