Surge in COVID cases puts squeeze on testing supplies

Surging COVID-19 cases in Isabella County haven’t led to any hospitalizations, yet, but they are starting to put a strain on testing capacity within the county.

On Monday, the county’s total number of cases increased to 137. Eight people have died.

“We have definitely seen an uptick in testing over the past 4 weeks,” said Jennifer White, chief executive officer of Isabella Citizens

for Health, Inc., in an email. “Also, the number of calls coming in now from people who either have been exposed or believe they may have been exposed has doubled since the announcement of the Littlefield Lake parties over the Fourth of July.

“Starting today, we’ve had to cap our testing to only 25 (people) a day until we are sure we can procure additional testing supplies. Both testing supplies and PPE are becoming scarce again.”

Testing hit new highs first Thursday with 114 and then on

Friday with 126, for a two-day total of 140, according to a U of M COVID-19 dashboard.

Rachel Blizzard, spokeswoman for Mclaren-central Michigan, said that the hospital has also seen an increase in test requests, potentially putting a strain on their ability to process tests. She said she couldn’t attribute the increase to any specific event.

The number of positive cases jumped by nine over the weekend, from 128 on Friday to 137 in Monday afternoon’s update from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.

Eight people were announced positive for the disease following a July 4 party on a sandbar at Littlefield Lake and at a residence following it. By Monday afternoon, three more people who attended the party had tested positive for a total of 11, said Steve Hall, health officer for Central Michigan District Health Department.

Six more of those cases came from CMU, and another four were associated with a long-term care facility, Hall said. Counts on the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services’ COVID-19 page don’t point to any of the county’s three nursing homes that report to the state: the Isabella County Medical Care Facility, Medilodge of Mt. Pleasant and The Laurels.

CMU has announced 15 cases within the university community since June 15, according to their COVID-19 information page. Nine of those were announced on June 22, seven from June 15 and two a week later.

The university announced an

other two cases on June 29 and four more on July 6. It is not known at this time if these six are related to the original nine. The original nine were believed to have started in custodial staff in one of the academic buildings.

Three employees in two locations within the resort are confirmed positive, including two at Legends Diner, which was closed overnight for a deep cleaning and reopened. Last week, a third employee on

the gaming floor was announced positive.

Isabella County’s confirmed cases have increased by 40 percent since June 14, when there were 85 cases. Since then, 52 additional cases have been reported.

While the additional cases have taken a bite out of testing, no one has landed in the hospital. The CMDHD website lists a cumulative total of 11 hospitalizations in the county. While that data was accurate to last Wednesday, Blizzard said it is still accurate. No one is hospitalized at Mclaren for COVID-19.

Hospitalizations typically lag behind positive

tests by as many as three weeks.

Other mid-michigan counties are also seeing increases in positive tests.

Gratiot County currently has 97 confirmed cases and 14 deaths. There are 31 cases and three deaths in Clare County, 36 cases and two deaths in Mecosta County, 28 cases and one death in Gladwin County, 140 cases and nine deaths in Midland County and 119 cases and one death in Montcalm County.

Statewide, another 384 cases and seven deaths were reported on Monday for cumulative totals of 69,722 and 6,075.