KALAMAZOO, MI -- A second surge of coronavirus cases is sweeping across the state and landing patients back in hospitals, including in Kalamazoo. A main difference from the spring surge is that these patients are younger, health officials from Bronson Healthcare said.
Across all of Kalamazoo County, 22 people have been hospitalized for coronavirus in October so far, according to county data. With 10 days left in the month, the number already represents an increase from September’s 19 hospitalizations. For comparison, the county recorded a total of 37 hospitalizations in May.
As of Tuesday, Oct. 20 Bronson Healthcare was treating 41 coronavirus patients across the system’s four hospitals, which include facilities outside Kalamazoo County. Downtown Kalamazoo’s Bronson Methodist Hospital was treating 18 patients, a figure similar to May’s daily average of patients in the facility.
Within the last two weeks, Bronson Healthcare’s hospitals have seen an increase in patients, said Dr. Martinson Arnan, chief clinical officer of Bronson Medical Group.
There are some key differences in what hospitals are seeing now compared to the spring, Arnan said. The first being that there are less patients in the intensive care unit and those who need ventilators.
But the most striking difference is that the patients are getting younger, Arnan said.
An initial increase in cases earlier this fall was linked back to young adults. Kalamazoo County data shows that 18 to 24 year-olds made up 37% of cases from the beginning of September.
Kalamazoo County is now seeing increases of COVID-19 cases in the age groups 30-59 and 60 and older, which likely correlates with an increase of hospitalizations, according to a news release from the health department.
On Wednesday, Oct. 21, the county recorded 20 new COVID-19 cases, both probable and confirmed, and a seven-day average of 43 new cases per day. That rate of new cases is almost double April’s highest seven-day average of 24 cases per day.
Since the beginning of the pandemic the county has recorded 3,512 confirmed cases and 837 probable cases for a total of 4,349 cases. In total 101 deaths have been linked to coronavirus in the county.
Younger patients coupled with a greater awareness of coronavirus symptoms may be contributing factors to the severity not being as extreme as the spring surge, Arnan said. That is not necessarily a sign of relief though, he said.
Part of what makes coronavirus so dangerous is its unpredictability, Arnan said.
A Michigan State University team of molecular biologists have tracked more than 18,000 mutations of COVID-19 thus far, and estimate there could be as many as 25,000 mutations by the time a vaccine is available.
Just because the virus may be changing does not automatically suggest it is less deadly, Arnan said.
“From the public health point of view I do think that we should be cautious in making people think that the virus is not as scary,” Arnan said. “I think that message is unsafe, because I think we should all be as vigilant and as careful as possible because this virus still has the potential to hurt a large number of people, especially those that are vulnerable.”
Regardless of the virus’s genetic makeup, Kalamazoo County Medical Director Dr. William Nettleton said there is certainly more of the virus in the county.
Kalamazoo County is experiencing the highest level of transmission since the beginning of the pandemic, Nettleton said.
This month, the seven-day average of new cases peaked at 63 new cases per day on Oct. 8. This is a significant jump compared to April’s highest seven-day average of 24 new cases per day.
While Arnan and Nettleton agree that the hospitals can now offer more aggressive treatments earlier, there are still a lot of unknowns surrounding the long-term effects on coronavirus patients.
It is especially important that those who are less vulnerable, such as the younger population or those without underlying health conditions, do not feel as though they are immune to catching the virus, Nettleton said.
“It is not inevitable that we all get COVID-19,” he said. “We have effective ways to reduce risk.”
The health department is zeroing in on social gatherings as the main form of community transmission. Data is showing that the virus is not being transmitted at work or school but rather gatherings that happen outside of institutions with restrictions like house parties or even places of worship, like one Kalamazoo-area church recently linked to an outbreak.
Any indoor gathering without social distancing or masks is risky, Nettleton said. It also becoming increasingly difficult to track down the origin points of exposure because residents have become more resistant to tell contact tracers where they have been, he said.
Only 17% of cases were identified when someone was already in quarantine, Nettleton said. The health department is stressing that they need the community’s commitment to not congregate, be honest when they do and isolate when they have symptoms.
“I really want to invoke Mr. Rogers — it’s time to be a neighbor,” he said. “The individual decisions that we make about being around others, it really does affect the health of your entire family, your friends, and also the whole community.”
Stopping the spread of coronavirus is vital to reducing the likelihood of “twindemics” or the overlap of COVID-19 and influenza, Arnan said.
The spring surge of coronavirus came at the tail end of flu season. The first confirmed coronavirus case in Kalamazoo County was on March 10, according to county data. That week, the county reported 140 flu cases.
A month later, the county had a single-day increase of 41 new COVID-19 cases on April 20. At that point, the number of flu cases were down to zero. However, this was the same month Kalamazoo hospitals were requesting more beds to stay on top of the patient surge.
To have flu season coincide with a COVID-19 spike would put a strain on hospital resources, Arnan said. Additionally, residents run the risk of contracting both diseases at once which would greatly impact their respiratory capabilities, he said.
The county has set a goal of a 33% increase in the number of people getting the flu vaccine in Kalamazoo County, when compared to last year.
At present, the current percentage of residents who got a vaccine, 14.97%, is just under the average at the same time last year. This is still below the goal average which would be 22.34% of the county population having received a flu vaccine by this week.
Arnan echoed what health professionals have said from the beginning — coronavirus is not the same as the flu. Overlapping symptoms such as fever and body aches are the only significant similarities, he said.
The high transmission and mortality rates are what set coronavirus apart from other virus strains, he said.
“I think that this virus has demonstrated itself to be resilient,”Arnan said. “It’s acting very differently from what we know about the [influenza] virus so I would say that the similarity between the two viruses are really, really small. I think that the differences is what sets them apart. One of them is deadly and has ravaged the world greatly.”
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