MAY 27: 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
• VISITOR POLICY UPDATE
• ELEVATOR GUIDELINES
• PARKING AND TRANSPORTATION UPDATE
• TEMPORARY HOUSING PROGRAM UPDATE
• TOWN HALL Q&As
• NEXT VIRTUAL TOWN HALL, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2 P.M.

DAILY PATIENT STATS

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

Discharges: 534 total COVID-19 discharges to date, 3 in the last 24 hours. These numbers include patients discharged to skilled nursing facilities but excludes deaths and discharges to hospice. 

DAILY TEAM MEMBER TESTING STATS*

* Data from 3/10 through 5/26. 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. Some Michigan Medicine employees may have been tested outside our system.

VISITOR POLICY UPDATE

Though the number of patients with COVID-19 is in decline, we are still required to implement ourRevised Visitor Policy. This policy is currently under review, and will be updated as the situation changes and the governor’s directive is clarified. Please continue to follow the policy as it outlines the number of visitors or companions allowed on all hospital and clinic premises, and please note that it is still not safe to allow visitors to gather in waiting rooms, etc.

Front-line staff/attending teams will conduct initial compassionate conversation about visit limitations – and can make exceptions to the policy for extenuating circumstances by consulting local clinic/unit leadership. For assistance:

·       Children and Women’s visitation exception requests: Send an email request to Luanne Ewald (mailto:mluewald@med.umich.edu), Jesus Cepero (jcepero@med.umich.edu) and Kelly Baird-Cox (bairdcox@med.umich.edu).

·       All others can go through the normal operations chain of command (local leader, house manager, Administrator on call, etc.)

We understand these are unusual circumstances and that these actions cause hardship for our patients. However, our top priority is the safety of our patients and of our staff. We believe these efforts will reduce chances of infection spreading. We will continue to evolve these guidelines as the situation changes. Thank you so much for taking exceptional care of our patients, families and each other.

ELEVATOR GUIDELINES

As operations ramp up again across the main medical campus and we begin to see increasing numbers of people in the hospitals and clinics, it is important to observe social distancing on all elevators. To maintain an appropriate social distance, elevators should be limited to four people at a time. This may mean longer waits for elevators, especially during shift changes and other high traffic times. Please be prepared for this delay and maintain safe distancing while you wait in the elevator lobby. If you are able, you may want to consider taking the stairs instead of the elevator.

Signage is currently being developed and will be posted in elevator lobbies to inform employees, patients and visitors of these new elevator capacity guidelines. As in all public spaces across the health system, mask use is required on elevators.

PARKING AND TRANSPORTATION UPDATE

To support the university community as activity levels begin to increase on campus, several parking and transportation changes are planned in the coming weeks.

Permit enforcement

Beginning Monday, June 8, all Medical Campus structures will be enforced with gates lowered during enforcement hours. This includes the Glen, Ann, Catherine and Wall St. structures, in addition to P1-P5, which are currently enforced. Permit enforcement in Medical Campus surface lots will remain suspended until Wednesday, July 1, as well as parking areas on North, Central and South campuses.

On July 1, parking permit enforcement will be restored for all parking areas on North, Medical, Central and South campuses. Parkers will be required to observe all parking control signs that indicate permits required and enforcement hours.

Individual parking spaces signed for 24/7 enforcement (such as Accessible, Gold, Service or Business Vehicle) or areas signed for 24/7 enforcement remain enforced at all times. 

Patient/visitor parking

Patient/visitor parking on the Medical Center Campus, including the Wall Street area, remains enforced.

Permit sales and renewals, transit services and more

Please note that permit sales and renewals are scheduled to begin June 15 for the new fiscal year. Additionally, Michigan Medicine shuttles, university transit and other services will begin ramping up in the next few weeks. Click here for more information.

TEMPORARY HOUSING PROGRAM UPDATE

The COVID-19 temporary housing program continues to evolve to support our employees, while meeting the needs of the organization.

Due to a substantially reduced number of COVID cases, temporary housing will only be made available to employees who need to self-isolate/quarantine due to COVID-19 exposure and/or infection.

Temporary housing for employees in need of respite because they or their family members may be at high risk of COVID-19 is suspended. Any employees currently using temporary housing due to these circumstances can complete their stay, but no new extensions will be accepted, effective immediately. 

Any employee working directly with COVID-19 patients who believes they may need to be quarantined should contact Occupational Health Services at 734-764-8021. If temporary housing is considered as a needed benefit, OHS will direct them to the temporary housing team. If an employee has been seen by their primary care physician (PCP), documentation is required.

The required documentation and request for lodging should be sent to hotel-accommodations@med.umich.edu.

TOWN HALL Q&As

If you missed last week’s town hall, held on May 22, click here to watch the video. Here are some Q&As that came out of the discussion:

Operations 

Q: If we are trying to increase volume, why is it taking so long to reopen many of our outpatient clinics including Livonia, Briarwood and Howell? 

A: Gov. Whitmer’s Executive Order relaxing restrictions on elective medical visits and procedures was issued just last week and does not come into full effect until this week. We are trying to harmonize our openings with governmental guidance.

Q: For Virtual Visits, latitude was given to options such as U-M Zoom, but there has been a push for MiChart as well. Do we still have latitude to connect with our patients in any way possible? 

A: Yes. The options for patient contact that were issued in March and April still pertain at this time.

Q: Logistically, what is Michigan Medicine’s plan to respond to a second wave if it occurs? For example, will a similar plan be implemented as was used in March with the hospital being cleared of non-COVID patients, units reorganized and staff redeployed or are there different plans?  

A: Both ambulatory care and the inpatient units have jointly developed monitoring systems to try to pick up any increases in COVID cases early. This will also help us understand if potential increases are small resurgences or more similar in scope to the March pandemic. In turn, there are outpatient and inpatient plans for variably-sized increases in COVID cases. While we are hopeful that social distancing and greater testing will allow the state of Michigan to avoid major increases in infection rates, plans are in place for multiple eventualities. 

Research 

Q: What is the plan for providing research labs with PPE, as these costs will be unallowable on sponsored projects and use of discretionary funds is presently restricted?

A: As the potential for a significant shortage of PPE in the hospital became a reality, numerous faculty and staff in the medical school’s research labs stepped up and donated PPE. Now that the shortage has dwindled, our clinical partners have contacted us to return the unused PPE back to the research enterprise. We will be communicating with you the mechanism to acquire this supply of PPE.

Q: Why is temperature screening being performed at the entrances to our labs but not at those to our clinics?

A: State of Michigan guidance varies for different types of return-to-work access. Campus buildings where research is performed falls under a different executive order than our clinical buildings which have not yet fully reopened. A temperature check is currently required for all entering campus research buildings. This is one difference; however, these guidelines may change with time.  

Q: For those of us doing “dry-lab” research and office based work — should we continue to work from home/zoom?

A: Yes, those faculty and staff who perform “dry lab” research and office-based work should continue to work from home.  

NEXT VIRTUAL TOWN HALL, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2 P.M.

Michigan Medicine leaders will host a virtual Town Hall this Friday, May 29, from 2 – 3 p.m. to discuss operational ramp-up plans.

To join the Town Hall, please click the link below: 

https://umich-health.zoom.us/j/92478265278?pwd=SGVvMk1NeHZISlUyRlVZNUFxWkNldz09

Password: 657670

Or iPhone one-tap: 

    US: +13017158592,,92478265278#  

Or Telephone:

    Dial:+1 301 715 8592  

    Webinar ID: 924 7826 5278

Still have questions?

We are also posting all bulletins and policies on Michigan Medicine Headlines athttps://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