The rise in positive COVID-19 cases in Ottawa County has left some area hospitals at full capacity, while county health officials say the situation is going from bad to worse.
“Ottawa County, we are looking at more than 300 cases a day,” Ottawa County Public Health Officer Kristina Wieghmink said. “And the rest of the state I believe by now is up to level E; that is where we are at the highest risk of infection and community wide spread.”
Those 300 new cases per day in Ottawa County are nearly eight times of what it was just a month ago.
“Cases are significantly increasing all across the county," she said. "Just this past update for testing which was done on October 31st, we are already at 9.6 percent positive for testing that came back,” Wiehmink said. "Now in the few months back when we were able to get this a little under control, we got down to 1.3 percent, so we are seeing a significant increase and it is looking like it is going to keep trending up.”
According to one health official, a number of area hospitals including North Ottawa Community Health System are already at maximum capacity, while beds are becoming increasingly hard to come by as positive cases of the coronavirus continue to grow with every passing day.
Next door in Muskegon County, it’s a similar story says Mercy Health Muskegon President, Gary Allore.
“So we have all been talking about the possibility of a second wave in the fall, and I am here to tell you that is absolutely here and in Muskegon as we speak.”
Michigan reported more than 9,000 new cases over the weekend, and 62 new deaths. Health officials are imploring Lakeshore residents to not leave the house unless necessary, wear a mask, and continue to practice social distancing.
