(WXYZ) — The unofficial start to summer is less than a week away, but the promise of summer fun and getaways come during a time of rising COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations.
Many people may be wondering what decisions they have to make to stay safe while also having fun, and I spoke to the state's chief medical officer to see what she is seeing.
Stay-at-home mom Marya Cain is looking forward to a getaway with her husband and twin girls. They're planning to go Up North.
"I plan on taking my girls rock hunting and mineral finding on our Great Lakes," Cain said.
She said she enjoys the slower pace of life, the history and nature
There's so much to explore. Just the hidden treasures of shipwrecks and just diving, swimming, all of that," she said.
Another appeal is the safe, outdoor activities as COVID-19 cases are on the rise.
"People have used terms like mini surge. We are definitely seeing an uptick in cases," Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, the MDHHS chief medical executive, said.
According to Bagdasarian, the current rise in cases is nothing like what we saw in the omicron and delta surges. The increase in cases isn't as steep and outcomes don't seem to be as severe.
"We're not seeing ICU beds occupied by COVID patients. We're not seeing the same types of severe consequences," she said.
That's good news. Hospitals aren't feeling under the kind of pressure we saw earlier in the pandemic, and while the increase in cases was predicted, they were expected to peak in early May, but that hasn't happened.
"We're going to keep a very close eye on that and work with some of our partners who do modeling of these types of situations to see what the next few months will look like.
So, it's not clear when cases will peak, although they are expected to decrease before rising again this fall and winter. The state, COVID-19 forecasters at the University of Michigan and other modeling partners will be looking at trends locally, but also emerging variants around the world.
As we prepare to start summer, Bagdasarian says don't give in to COVID fatigue.
Socializing outdoors and masking up in indoor spaces helps lower transmission. Getting vaccinated and boosted lower the risk of severe illness and hospitalization, and get tested if you think you might have the virus.
Since we're not doing as much public testing anymore and we're seeing more at-home testing, I asked Bagdasarian what the true number of COVID-19 cases really is.
Her response was that number isn't as important as the trend in cases.
She says the cases that are reported to the state along with hospitalizations and other data like wastewater collection give public health leaders an idea of where cases are going sometimes before people are even diagnosed.
