Almost 700 employees of Henry Ford Health System test positive for Covid

DETROIT (FOX 2) - The Henry Ford Health System is reporting a large number of its staff have been sidelined with COVID-19 as the post-holiday surge hit Metro Detroit hard.

Michigan's most recent surge of COVID-19 cases is the most its ever been with over 12,000 case reported every day, on average. At Henry Ford Health System, they've had nearly 700 people test positive in one week and that's leading to severe shortages.

"In the last seven days 686 team members have tested positive for Covid. This is a 3-fold increase since December," Dr. Adnan Munkarah said. "We had to temporarily close 97 beds in three of our hospitals, mostly due to staffing challenges."

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Dr. Munkarah and Dr. Dennis Cunningham at the Henry Ford Health System says cases aren't slowing, even in the slightest.

"This pandemic is not slowing down and we are still surging," Dr. Cunningham said. 

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"Last week he had nearly 5,000 people test positive for Covid. That’s the highest number of positive testing in one week than we saw in the entire year of 2021," Dr. Munkarah said.

Henry Ford also reports 480 patients have been hospitalized, including a 17-year-old who is not vaccinated.

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"The steep increases in the number of infections continues to limit our ability to provide Monoclonal antibody treatment," Dr. Cunningham said.

Monoclonal antibodies are a treatment which can make it more difficult for the virus to reproduce and endanger the body. Henry Ford’s supply is barely sufficient to last one day and they were down to 30 doses prior to an update on Tuesday.

"We did receive our shipment of….the monoclonal antibody. I don’t have the exact number yet but he gives us more than 30 doses," Dr. Cunningham said.

Medical professionals say the best way to  beat coronavirus and eliminate its fallout is to get people vaccinated and boosted

"Vaccination remains the most effective tool for protecting ourselves The booster shot protects us even more," Dr. Munkarah said.