(WXYZ) — Beaumont CEO John Fox said testing volumes are way up at its ERs and urgent care centers.
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Fox said the positivity rate is up substantially, which means communities are transmitting the virus much faster between each other. He described it as an "accelerating trend."
However, Fox said one of the most difficult things for hospital staff is getting people to use "basic tools of effective control" that will protect people from the virus, particularly when it comes to wearing a mask.
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He said Beaumont sees it in their own lobbies, where staff asks people to wear masks and get resistance.
"This is a controllable pathogen," he said. "If we do the basic control steps of masking, social distancing and hand hygiene, we can turn this around. It could be a much more serious situation if we don't."