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'We are gravely concerned.' Henry Ford health officials warn of rising COVID hospitalizations

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(WXYZ) — Health officials from Henry Ford Health System are also sounding the alarm on rising COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in our community.

“We are gravely concerned,” said Dr. Adnan Munkarah, Henry Ford’s Executive Vice President and Chief Clinical Officer during a press update on Tuesday.

Dr. Munkarah said the health system has 330 patients with COVID across their five hospitals, with more awaiting test results. He said that’s about a 60% rise from the last week in October.

“Our numbers mirror what we are seeing across the state,” he said.

On Monday, the state reported 21,034 new COVID cases over a three day period.

Health officials are pushing the COVID vaccination, saying people who are vaccinated are 5 to 6 times less likely to get the infection.

They released a graphic showing a majority of the patients in the ICU and on ventilators are those who are unvaccinated.

“We really must act now. Our hospitals have more COVID patients than they’ve had since the spring surge, and that should be alarming to all of us, because that is with more overall population vaccinated than before and with the advancements in treatment,” said Bob Riney, COO of Henry Ford Health System.

Henry Ford health officials say they’ve had to curtail some procedures on some days because of overall volume, but said they are evaluating that on a day-to-day basis.

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