(WXYZ) — Thursday morning Executive Vice President and Chief Clinical Officer Adnan Munkara M.D. and President of Healthcare Operations and Chief Operating Officer Bob Riney from Henry Ford Health System gave their weekly recap on how their hospitals are doing in metro Detroit.
According to the team Henry Ford hospitals currently have 500 patients hospitalized with COVID-19. That number includes five children under the age of 17.
Munkara says that one in two people coming in with symptoms of COVID-19 are testing positive. He says the highest positivity rate is among people ages 21 to 30.
They represent 33% of positive cases according to Munkara.
To help hospitals, President Joe Biden is sending a second group of federal assistance to the the Henry Ford Wyandotte Hospital as COVID-19 continues to surge.
"Unlike prior surges Henry Ford Wyandotte hospitals emergency department is receiving an extremely high volume of non-covid patients as well as a pretty significant resurgence of COVID-19 patients,” said COO of Henry Ford Health System Bob Riney
According to Riney, the first federal team arrived on Jan. 9 and will stay on-site until Jan. 21. The second group will assist at Wyandotte hospital for another 30 days. There are no details on when the second phase will start after the first phase has ended.
“This is what I call a real help in terms of it does add meaning clinical capacity but its also a mental boost too it is a great sign of hope and optimism to our care teams that they are not alone,” said COO of Henry Ford Health System Bob Riney
This federal team is helping out with the high volume of patients that are not COVID-19 related.
"As of today, 593 employees are out of work due to COVID," Riney said. "This is due to the fast-spreading Omicron in the community; this is not work-related spread."
Munkara also shared details on the national blood shortage noting how the pandemic and low staffing has exacerbated the issue.
According to the Red Cross, this is the worst blood shortage in over a decade.
Munkara encourages anyone that would like to donate blood to visit www.redcross.org.
Additional Coronavirus information and resources:
View a global coronavirus tracker with data from Johns Hopkins University.
See complete coverage on our Coronavirus Continuing Coverage page.