Cases surge in new hot spots of Michigan, Minnesota

Hospitals in Michigan and Minnesota on Tuesday reported a wave of COVID-19 patients not seen in months as beds were filled with unvaccinated people and health care leaders warned that staff were being worn down by yet another surge.

Michigan had slightly more than 3,000 COVID-19 patients in hospitals this week, the first time it had crossed that threshold since spring, while nearly all hospital beds were occupied in Minnesota. Both held the unflattering rank of national virus hotspots.

It “should be alarming to all of us,” Bob Riney, chief operating officer at Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, said of the hospital crush.

The overall outlook has improved in recent weeks in the U.S., with coronavirus hospitalizations standing at about 40,000, compared with more than 90,000 at the peak of the delta surge.

Virus spread has slowed in the South to the point that more locations are doing away with mask restrictions.

But pockets of the country see surges, including the Northeast, Rockies and Upper Midwest.

Henry Ford Health and Spectrum Health in Grand Rapids, Michigan, together reported 700 COVID-19 patients in their hospitals, most of whom were not vaccinated. Positive test rates run above 20%.

Michigan had the country’s highest seven-day COVID-19 case rate at 503 per 100,000 people, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Minnesota was No. 2 at 490.

“All of us had hoped that we’d be in a very different place as we approach this Thanksgiving season. But we really are not,” Riney said.

When he listens to frontline staff, Riney said they are disheartened to see more COVID-19 cases, especially when vaccines are available.