Berrien County health officials offered their weekly update on the COVID-19 pandemic on Dec. 11.
County Health Officer Nicki Britten says the county is seeing an average of 120 new cases per day, or 10 times more daily cases than at the end of September. But, she said new cases and hospitalizations are beginning to slow, a trend she called “encouraging.”
“Definitely not the ideal scenario, but it seems like we’re not growing as rapidly as we feared we would be in these first couple weeks of December,” Britten said.
Dr. Loren Hamel, president of Spectrum Health Lakeland, said Lakeland hospitals are at capacity. But, he said they’re prepared to keep operating that way as long as the community keeps reducing the virus’s spread.
“We can do this for several more weeks as long as things don’t grow dramatically,” he said.
Hamel said the best way to give back to healthcare workers this holiday season is to not get sick. He also said Spectrum Health expects to receive 4,500 doses of vaccine when the first shipment is sent – possibly as early as next week.
Contact Gemma at gdicarlo@wvpe.org or follow her on Twitter at @gemma_dicarlo
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