Michigan is now the state with the third most cases of COVID-19—behind New York and New Jersey. The states’ top doctor says Michigan is weeks away from peak infection rates, and the state is already facing severe shortages of equipment and health workers.
Governor Gretchen Whitmer says Michigan received 112,000 N95 masks from the national stockpile over the weekend, but it’s nowhere near enough.
Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, the state’s chief medical executive, says Michigan is several weeks away from the highest number of cases and will need thousands more ventilators.
“So, we have about 1700 ventilators right now. We think we’ll need many more than that by thousands. So, there’s no question we’re going to need an additional five to ten thousand ventilators.”
Dr. Khaldun says according to some state models, it’s estimated treating one COVID-19 patient takes ten masks per day.
In Lansing, I’m Abigail Censky.