Third Clare virus nursing home death announced
Hospital leaders call for action
Clare County’s ninth COVID-19 deathwas identified as a resident of a Farwell nursing home where an outbreak of the disease has infected 55 people, 35 of them residents.
The elderly man was hospitalized with the disease, said Steve Hall, health officer with Central Michigan District Health Department. He died Tuesday. His death was reported Wednesday by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.
He was the third resident of North Woods Nursing Center, 2532W. Cadillac Dr., to have died. All three were elderly men hos
pitalized with the disease.
Fifty-five people associated with North Woods have contracted the disease, including 35 residents and 20 staff.
Clare County itself is in the middle of a significant outbreak of the disease.
As of Sept. 29, the county had 98 confirmed cases of COVID-19, 14 hospitalizations and four deaths. On Thursday, another 14 cases were reported bringing its total cases to 214. Thirty people have been hospitalized at some point for COVID-19, according to CMDHD’S weekly data release. Nine have died. Of October’s five deaths, three were at North Woods.
After sixmonths of calm relative to other parts of the state, Clare County’s
numbers have all doubled in less than three weeks. Clare is not alone, however.
Health experts have predicted a surge of COVID-19 cases with cooler fall weather, as people move inside. In-home transmissions among family groups are a significant source for disease numbers.
On Thursday, leaders from 37 Michigan hospitals and hospital networks warned that increasing case numbers and hospitalizations might place a strain on Michigan’s medical care resources.
“In recent weeks, we have seen COVID-19 cases trending upwards in all regions of the state, and hospitalizations have surged by more than 80 percent,” the statement read. This concerning jump puts our entire healthcare system at risk of another capacity crisis. If the trend continues, doctors and nurses, therapists and custodians, food services and support staff, who have barely begun to recover from the terrible stress of the initial COVID-19 surge will suffer additional stress and risk their own infection, illness, and mortality.
“If Michigan doesn’t change its approach to this disease, we could have crowded hospital emergency departments and approach exceeding the capacity of our hospitals as we did in Southeast Michigan this past spring.”
The signatories to the statement included Dr. Michael Mckenna, executive vice president and chief health officer of Mclaren Health Care, which operates Mclaren- Central Michigan in Mt. Pleasant; and Dr. Lydia Watson, senior vice president and chief medical officer of Midmichigan Health, which operates Midmichigan Health Medical Center- Clare and Midmichigan Health Medical Center-alma.
Eleven more cases were reported in Isabella County on Thursday, bringing its cumulative number to 847, with 15 deaths. Ten more were reported in Gratiot County, bringing its cumulative total to 368, with 16 deaths.
Elsewhere in mid-michigan, nine more cases were reported in Mecosta County on Thursday for a cumulative total of 403, with four deaths; nine in Montcalm County for 497, with eight deaths; 27 in Midland County, for 745 cases, with 14 deaths; and five more cases ingladwin County for 151 cases, with two deaths.
Statewide, another 1,873 cases were reported for a cumulative total of 152,862, and another 43 deaths were reported for a total of 7,129. Of those 43 deaths, 31were discovered after a vital records search.