MAY 5: DAILY COVID-19 UPDATE

NEW TODAY: Here’s the latest information about Michigan Medicine’s management of the COVID-19 pandemic:

• DAILY PATIENT STATS
• DAILY TEAM MEMBER TESTING STATS
• DONOR GENEROSITY PAYING FOR FOOD, T-SHIRTS, THANK-YOU VIDEOS, MORE
• PLASMA FROM RECOVERED COVID-19 PATIENTS
• PPE, SPECIAL PATHOGENS PRECAUTIONS REMINDERS

DAILY PATIENT STATS Today’s census for COVID-19 inpatients and those patients under investigation (PUI) are noted below:

Discharges: 416 total COVID-19 discharges to date, 8 in the last 24 hours.  These numbers include patients discharged to skilled nursing facilities but excludes deaths and discharges to hospice.

Deaths and Hospice: Since March 10, Michigan Medicine hospitals have had 81 total deaths or discharges to hospice, 0 in the last 24 hours. Total death and hospice numbers will be reported on Mondays.

DAILY TEAM MEMBER TESTING STATS*

* Data from 3/10 through 5/4. The testing stats reflect just Michigan Medicine employees, not all University of Michigan employees. It also reflects only those who sought testing at or were hospitalized at Michigan Medicine or reported their testing to Occupational Health Services.  Access to a new source or external COVID lab testing was made available on 5/4/20.  This picked up a large number of employees who were not previously known to be tested which are now included in the dataset as of 5/5/20.

DONOR GENEROSITY PAYING FOR FOOD, T-SHIRTS, THANK-YOU VIDEOS AND MORE

The COVID-19 Philanthropic fund (https://giving.medicine.umich.edu/covid-19) has received more than $1 million in donations, more than 15,000 meals for our staff, and generous donations of PPE and supplies. Gifts to the COVID-19 Philanthropic Fund can be used for the well-being, recognition, and support of our frontline health care workers, as well as to address emerging opportunities to advance patient care and research. A committee was established six weeks ago to solicit and fund the best ideas on recognition and support. Thus far, funds have been used for T-shirts that were received last week and are being distributed across the organization, thank-you signs and videos, and will be used in coming weeks for many more employee recognition and support efforts. As with all philanthropic funds, we must follow the wishes of the donors. We cannot use these funds toward our financial shortfall.

Another fund, the Employee Emergency Needs Fund, was just established and already has $400,000. This philanthropic fund will provide grants for our lowest-resourced employees who are in need of financial assistance as a result of the pandemic. Information on how to access this direct financial support with be forthcoming from Human Resources.

PLASMA NEEDED FROM RECOVERED COVID-19 PATIENTS

The American Red Cross is seeking people who are fully recovered from COVID-19 to sign up to donate plasma to help current COVID-19 patients.

People who have fully recovered from COVID-19 have antibodies in their plasma that can attack the virus. This convalescent plasma is being evaluated as treatment for patients with serious or immediately life-threatening COVID-19 infections, or those judged by a healthcare provider to be at high risk of progression to severe or life-threatening disease.

Michigan Medicine providers are being strongly encouraged to request patients donate plasma in all COVID-related after visit summaries. Patients may qualify to donate plasma if they have had a prior, verified diagnosis of COVID-19, but are now symptom free and fully recovered from COVID-19.

More information is available from the American Red Cross here.

PPE, SPECIAL PATHOGENS PRECAUTIONS REMINDERS

N-95/PAPRs should be used for all patients who require intubation regardless of symptoms or Special Pathogens Precautions unless they have had a negative COVID-19 test AND have no new concerning signs or symptoms since the time of testing.  N-95/PAPRS should be used for emergent intubation of patients who develop new or progressive respiratory decompensation during hospitalization as these symptoms could be concerning for new infection.

http://www.med.umich.edu/i/ice/resources/coronavirus/ppe_pt_care.pdf

Hospitalized patients who test positive for COVID-19 should remain in Special Pathogens Precautions until they have resolution of fever, clinical improvement of respiratory symptoms, and two negative nasopharyngeal swabs collected more than 24 hours apart (if not ventilated and without tracheostomy) or two negative NP swabs collected more than 24 hours apart plus a negative tracheal aspirate (if ventilated or s/p tracheostomy).

http://www.med.umich.edu/i/ice/resources/coronavirus/WorkflowForNegativeCOVID.pdf

Still have questions?

We are also posting all daily bulletins and policies on Michigan Medicine Headlines at https://mmheadlines.org/covid-19-updates/.  Please bookmark that site and refer to it throughout the day for the most up-to-date information. An FAQ for staff is also posted and updated frequently.

If you still can’t find what you’re looking for on these web pages, please email coronavirus-info@med.umich.edu and your question will be answered as quickly as possible.  Do not use this email for sharing patient health information.

Jeffrey Desmond, M.D.
Chief Medical Officer