LANSING, Mich. — A team of federal medical workers is coming to help alleviate strained staff at Mercy Health Muskegon.
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) announced Wednesday that the federal government granted Gov. Gretchen Witmer's request for additional staffing assistance at a fourth Michigan hospital.
Federal workers are already helping Beaumont Hospital – Dearborn, Spectrum Health in Grand Rapids and Covenant HealthCare in Saginaw.
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They've been given the green light to stay at those three hospitals for an additional 30 days.
The additional staffing team of 17-strong will include registered nurses, a doctor and other health care workers.
The team will begin treating patients on Dec. 30 and provide support for the next 30 days. They will assist with providing monoclonal antibody treatment in addition to other support duties.
“We are very grateful for the additional support from the state and federal levels to provide essential support for our care staff as they are in the midst of this fourth surge in Michigan,” said Gary Allore, president of Mercy Health Muskegon.
“COVID-19 has put our frontline staff under the most extreme conditions, but their unwavering commitment to the safety and health of all members of our community holds true. We need everyone’s collective help to emerge out of this pandemic together.”
The federal staffing teams come as Michigan hospitals strain due to a spike in COVID-19 patients, the vast majority of whom are unvaccinated. In October, unvaccinated people had 4.3 times the risk of testing positive for COVID-19 and 13.2 times the risk of dying from COVID-19 than people who were fully vaccinated.
From Jan. 3 – Dec. 15, 2021, people who were unvaccinated or not fully vaccinated represented: 85.1% of COVID-19 cases, 88.1% of hospitalizations and 85.5% of deaths.
As of Dec. 20, 3,944 Michiganders are hospitalized for COVID-19.
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