University of Michigan: Latest COVID surge ‘hammers ER workers’ - WDIV ClickOnDetroit

ANN ARBOR – At the start of the year, Michigan Medicine’s emergency department had hardly any COVID patients coming in.

“It marked a sudden departure from where we had been,” Brad Uren, a physician at Michigan Medicine’s Department of Emergency Medicine, Brad Uren, said in a news release.

“People were staying home, people were isolating and masking, we were distanced,” Uren said in a release.

“We are used to operating in challenging times,” Uren said in a release.

Another concerning factor: COVID patients at Michigan Medicine are increasingly getting younger.

Emergency visits for COVID in the hospital’s pediatric population has also seen a 10-20% bump, according to Michigan Medicine.

“We’re seeing a rise in pediatric COVID, many in the young adolescent age group, possibly driven by transmission due to school-based athletic sports,” section chief of pediatric emergency at Michigan Medicine C.S.