DENNIS CUNNINGHAM

The White House COVID-19 Response Team held a briefing after a six-week hiatus.

Henry Ford Health is issuing a warning to its hospitals are they see an increase in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations.

This week, COVID313 covers updates on the rapidly spreading Omicron variant, which mask protects the best and DPSCD virtual learning.

If you couldn’t receive the vaccine because of an allergy or other reaction, or your immune system is severely compromised because, for example, you’ve had a transplant or you’re on chemotherapy. The vaccine isn’t going to be as protective.

Officials with the Henry Ford Health System have reported seeing encouraging signs over the past week, including a decrease in the number of COVID-positive patients admitted to the hospital.

The omicron variant is spreading across Michigan and local hospitals are feeling the impact.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said on Wednesday that the first case of the newly emerging Omicron variant of COVID-19 was detected in the U.S.

With Michigan in the middle of yet another surge of COVID-19, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was here in Metro Detroit on Monday talking about the ongoing crisis.

Doctors and nurses fear the new omicron variant of the coronavirus could make things even worse at Michigan’s hospitals.

Next week, the Food and Drug Administration’s vaccine advisory committee is set to meet to discuss emergency use authorization of the covid-19 vaccine for children.

The booster shots will have to be administered starting eight months after a second dose of Pfizer or Moderna’s vaccines for most people, officials said. For that reason, we conclude that a booster shot will be needed to maximize vaccine-induced protection and prolong its durability. With that data in hand, they promise tp keep the public informed with a timely plan for J&J booster shots as well. The hospital system said it would be formalizing a plan in the coming weeks to administer booster shots to the general population. Henry Ford has seen a small number of breakthrough infections involving immunocompromised patients or the frail elderly.

The Henry Ford Health System has been a leader in combating the misinformation being spread about COVID vaccines.

Many patients can now receive a COVID-19 vaccine the same way they get a flu, shingles or tetanus shot, at their doctor’s office. It is important for people to be reassured by going to their own physician,” said John Foren, spokesman for Sparrow Health System in Lansing. Some primary care or family doctor’s offices, even some that are part of a larger system, do not offer vaccines. In Michigan, about 62.9% of people 16 and older have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Meanwhile, other countries with low supply would love to get one of these safe and effective vaccines, health officials said.

Employees and volunteers who work for Henry Ford Health System will need to be fully vaccinated for COVID-19 by Sept. 10 or face termination, the organization’s chief operating officer said Tuesday. “Vaccination will be a condition of employment in the same way that we have with the annual flu shot,” Bob Riney, Henry Ford’s president of healthcare operations and chief operating officer, said at a press briefing. “It has to be something where you’ve demonstrated (an objection) to other types of vaccines,” Cunningham said. “So we’re following the recommendations of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and other professional medical societies that say it’s really best to get the vaccine,” Cunningham said. Earlier this month a federal judge in Texas dismissed a lawsuit filed against Houston Methodist Hospital by employees who challenged its COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, recently called the new delta variant of the coronavirus “the greatest threat in the U.S. to our attempt to eliminate COVID-19.”The B.1.617.2 variant is considered highly transmissible and is believed to be responsible for about one in every five cases nationally. Health officials in Michigan said they aren’t any more concerned about the delta variant than other currently known strains, particularly for the population that is fully vaccinated. The delta strain, which has been labeled a “variant of concern” by the World Health Organization, was first detected in India and has spread to more than 90 countries. Ingham County Health Officer Linda Vail said the latest variant “isn’t anything to get more worked up about than the (alpha) B.1.1.7 variant” for the vaccinated population. For more information, visit the state’s COVID-19 vaccine website.

The latest count of new and ongoing outbreaks marks a week-over-week decline of 42% from last week’s 340 total clusters. Long-term care facilities remain the most-common setting for ongoing outbreaks (55), though they also come with more clarity due to mandatory testing requirements. Outside of K-12 schools and colleges, MDHHS is not identifying specific locations or the number of coronavirus cases. Region 2S (city of Detroit and Monroe, Washtenaw and Wayne counties): 13 clusters, with one new and 12 ongoing outbreaks. Region 5 (Allegan, Barry, Calhoun, Branch, St. Joseph, Cass, Berrien, Van Buren and Kalamazoo counties): 21 clusters, all of which are ongoing outbreaks.

Individuals who are fully vaccinated won’t have to wear a mask indoors or outdoors, while those who are not yet fully vaccinated will only have to wear a mask indoors. Health officials questioned how the state will enforce the new policy, with no real efficient way of determining who is and isn’t fully vaccinated. The governor’s office and state health department hadn’t provided any clear answers as of Friday afternoon. While businesses don’t have to require vaccinated people to wear masks, they still can if they want to. About 55.6% of residents 16 years and older have received at least one dose, and more than 43% are fully vaccinated.

A group of students in the Detroit Public Schools Community District on Tuesday launched Teens for Vaccines, an effort they hope will convince their peers to get vaccinated.

Nick Torney, clinical specialist in infectious disease for Munson Healthcare, explained the health system’s policy during a virtual COVID-19 provider forum last week. Because it’s not guaranteed that second dose vials will have an equal number of doses — if an 11th dose is used — the system’s policy is to only pull 10 doses per vial of Moderna vaccine. No system outside Munson indicated a policy that purposefully avoided using an 11th dose per vial if it’s available. A spokesperson for the health system didn’t know how many doses of the Moderna vaccine had been administered to date, but said Munson has administered 34,119 doses between the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines. As of Tuesday, Michigan had administered 1,213,663 doses of the Moderna vaccine.

Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, health officials have provided near-daily updates of new confirmed coronavirus cases and deaths. As of Tuesday, Jan. 5, the Department of Health and Human Services has tracked 42,232 probable cases -- 740 more than the day prior. A coronavirus case isn’t confirmed until an individual has a PCR test come back positive for COVID-19. Probable cases can be changed to confirmed cases, MDHHS, upon processing of a positive PCR test. National data, as well as data from some states, combine confirmed cases and deaths with probable ones, while others like Michigan report them separately.

As we head into flu season, it can be hard to tell the difference -- even for doctors. “To make it even more confusing, just because you have flu doesn’t mean you can’t have COVID,” Cunningham said. For instance, people typically come down with flu symptoms within a few days of exposure to the virus, while it may take up to two weeks for COVID-19. The concerns about the convergence of flu season with the pandemic has doctors and health departments pushing hard for people to get flu vaccines this year. “To those who have been on the fence in the past about a flu shot, you really need to consider it this year,” Brenner said.

At the same time, the political fallout continues from the Michigan Supreme Court’s decision on Friday, Oct. 2 to invalidate Gov. has no authority to continue state of emergency, Michigan Supreme Court rulesThe attorney general’s statement was released Sunday, Oct. 4, by press secretary Ryan Jarvi. “We’ve saved thousands of lives and the Supreme Court, on a slim majority Republican vote, undermined that effort," Whitmer said. The district will not require students in those grades to wear a mask in classrooms in direct response to a Michigan Supreme Court decision late last week. Whitmer’s last executive orders, students in grades K-4 were to begin wearing masks in the classroom beginning tomorrow (Oct. 5),” said a statement from Davison Community Schools.

Last week, Michigan had its highest number of new coronavirus cases since April. Cunningham called the recent uptick in the numbers “depressing" and said he was “absolutely” worried about a fall surge. “It’s certainly a concern of ours” that numbers will surge in upcoming month as people spend more time indoors, he said. have had 2,730 confirmed coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic. Unlike Wisconsin, where some hospitals are at capacity, the coronavirus surge has yet to overwhelm hospitals in the U.P.