WAYNE COUNTY, Mich. (WXYZ) — Wayne County health officials outlined their plan to deal with the new COVID-19 spike.
They told members of the Wayne County Commission Tuesday afternoon that the numbers now are already higher than last spring, where Detroit became an early hot spot in the nation.
The numbers are expected to increase as we move into colder weather, people will be indoors more, and there will be more cases of the flu.
Using graphics during the meeting, Wayne County plans to be performing 8,000 to 10,000 COVID-19 tests per day. They will have two vendors to run the tests and expect to have results in 24 to 48 hours.
To stop the spread, Wayne County will have 33 case investigators and 24 contact tracers working seven days a week, 12 hours a day.
Contact tracing is cold-calling people to discuss the spread close to them and Wayne County Chief Health Strategist Mouhanad Hammani told commissioners it is not always easy because some people feel like they have to “rat out” their friends they were with.
Health Officer Carol Austerberry told commissioners that upcoming holidays will be difficult for people to avoid being with family and friends, but “this is not the year to do that.”