(WXYZ) — The State of Michigan is tapping into state and federal reserves for ventilators in its fight against the fourth surge of COVID-19 cases.
Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Director Elizabeth Hertel said they are deploying the state supply of ventilators and requesting ventilators from the national strategic stockpile.
During a press conference on Friday morning, the state didn't say how many ventilators it was requesting.
According to the state's COVID-19 dashboard, there are more than 600 patients on ventilators fighting COVID-19 in Michigan as of Wednesday, Dec. 8.
The areas with the most patients are in metro Detroit with 269 patients on ventilators and in West Michigan with 132 patients.
The state also said that there are no more federal teams available to help hospitals fight the surge in patients. Currently, there are three Department of Defense teams in Michigan helping some hospitals.
Michigan also has 4,630 people in the hospital with confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19 and 59 children in the hospital with the virus. There are 996 patients in the ICU and 601 patients on ventilators.
Related: COVID-19 in Michigan is 'critical right now,' state health officials say
When it comes to hospitalizations, the state said inpatient beds with COVID-19 patients are at an all-time high with 21.5% of beds, and those have been increasing for 20 weeks.
On top of that, deaths are increasing. According to Bagdasarian, 87 people died each day on average from COVID-19 in the last week.
"The situation in our state is critical right now. Cases are surging, hospitals are full and we have a new variant," Bagdasarian said.
She said that people need to get vaccinated, get boosted, wear a well-fitting mask in indoor public settings and get tested.
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