(WXYZ) — Dr. Nick Gilpin, medical director of infection prevention and epidemiology at Beaumont Health, said Thursday during a press update that they are seeing a sharp rise in COVID patients.
“I wish I was here under happier circumstances … over about the last four to five days, we’ve seen a considerable increase in our hospital COVID numbers and we have currently … almost 400 COVID patients across our hospitals.”
He added that metro Detroit is once again becoming a hot spot for the virus.
“I consider this to be our fourth COVID surge,” said Dr. Gilpin.
Dr. Gilpin said case numbers across the state have jumped about 30 percent in the last week and that percentage of tests positive in the tri-county area have increased and is now around 11.5%.
He said the surge is driven by a number of factors, including the unvaccinated population and more people gathering indoors due to the cooler weather.
Dr. Gilpin said that although COVID-19 may be on the decline in some regions of our country, that is not aligned with where we are.
“That’s certainly been not the case in the Midwest,” said Dr. Gilpin. He said hospitalizations are up across the state with the largest case increase among school-aged children.
Dr. Gilpin said the current surge could last 4 to 5 months.
Watch the full press update above.
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