Starting Wednesday, Michigan will be under a three-week order that tightens COVID-19 restrictions, and it comes at a time when cases, hospitalizations and deaths are rising.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer warned on Sunday that the state could soon start seeing 1,000 deaths per week. To date, 8,049 people have died from the virus in Michigan.
Healthcare execs and frontline workers have urged residents to buckle down over the last few weeks as the current surge strains already exhausted staff.
The new epidemic order brings them hope.
Jamie Brown, a critical care nurse and the president of the Michigan Nurses Association, said she wishes it came even sooner.
"I'm glad it's here now," Brown said.
The order came from the Michigan Dept. of Health and Human Services and places new restrictions on gatherings while shutting down things like indoor dining and in-person learning at college and high school campuses. Whitmer can no longer issue executive orders without the Republican-led legislature's approval, the result of a Supreme Court ruling handed down in early October.
Hospitalizations statewide increased by over 100% in recent weeks, according to data released last week by the Michigan Health and Hospital Association (MHA).
Brian Peters, the CEO at MHA said the association and its members appreciated Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's "strong and swift response to the current surge."
Spectrum Health, the largest health system in West Michigan, has said it will soon hit capacity. Last week, CEO Tina Freese Decker said about one of every 10 hospitalized COVID-19 patients ended up dying from the virus.
In a statement Monday, the health system urged residents to comply with the new three-week order.
"Doing so will help ensure that Spectrum Health has the capacity to treat COVID-19 patients as well as those with other conditions requiring immediate attention, such as heart attacks or car crash injuries. We join health systems throughout the state in asking everyone to do their part now to slow the spread and ensure we can care for our patients and communities," read a statement.
West Michigan hospitals are being hit at a far greater rate than they were in the spring. Mercy Health Muskegon, which includes the Mercy and Hackley campuses, is currently treating just over a third of the record high 373 COVID-19 patients within Trinity Health's system.
SEIU Healthcare Michigan, the union that represents healthcare workers at Mercy Health Muskegon, said the order is necessary to support staff.
"Hospitals are at capacity, there is not enough staffing," said president Andrea Acevdeo. "They are tired. They're overwhelmed, they're really trying to give excellent patient care, but if we don't do something to stop the spread, that's not going to be possible soon."
Brown, with the MNA, which represents 13,000 registered nurses, said nurses throughout the state are working 12 to 16-hour shifts to make ends meet as an increasing number of staff members contract the virus.
"We just keep going into work because we know that there's nobody else that can take care of people," Brown said. "But it is exhausting, and it's wearing on us. And it's really hurtful when we see people not wearing their mask because we are doing so much to try to keep our communities safe and then we just see these people, and it hurts."
Brown, who works at Ascension Borgess Hospital in Kalamazoo, said this current surge is the most helpless she's felt while battling the pandemic.
"People can be doing fine one minute and then the next minute they're dead," Brown said. "It's so unpredictable."
She hopes people will follow the new order.
"It helps and it's going to help keep hopefully them from losing a loved one, and it's going to keep the nurses healthier to be able to take care of the patients that do get sick with COVID," Brown said.
RELATED VIDEO:
►Make it easy to keep up to date with more stories like this. Download the 13 ON YOUR SIDE app now.
Have a news tip? Email news@13onyourside.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter. Subscribe to our YouTube channel.