The latest surge in COVID-19 cases has hit Munson Medical Center (MMC) in Traverse City. Starting Wednesday, the hospital will dedicate an additional unit for COVID-19 patient care and elevate its overall pandemic response plan to "Orange," the second highest stage possible. 

As of Wednesday, MMC is caring for 40 hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Over the last week, the two COVID-19 isolation units at MMC have neared capacity, so beginning today, the hospital will dedicate one additional unit to care for COVID-19 patients. 

Munson Chief Marketing and Communications Officer Dianne Michalek tells The Ticker, "Our healthcare team is quickly having to adapt to these changes, as this creates cascading challenges across the hospital. Some elective inpatient and outpatient procedures are being rescheduled to accommodate this transition. Clinical and administrative leadership are assessing planned surgeries and procedures daily based on Emergency Department volumes, admissions, discharges, COVID-19 inpatient census and community infection rates."

On Monday, November 9, the entire Munson Healthcare system elevated its pandemic response plan to "Orange" because:
• Northern Michigan’s percent positive rate has more than doubled over the last 4 weeks.
• Positive cases per 100,000 people has increased by 8 times over the same time period.  
• The rise in community spread throughout our region is causing clinical staff, support staff and providers to quarantine, making staffing challenges more significant than what the system experienced earlier in the pandemic.

Michalek adds that -- despite the surge in cases -- the situation is very different than it was in the spring. "We know how to treat COVID-19 patients better than we did before, and our PPE supplies are good. The challenges we are facing now are directly related to community spread of COVID-19.  And this is not a northern Michigan problem, it’s a statewide problem which causes us even more concern. We are seeing other hospitals across the state reach their patient hospitalization limits and report the same staffing issues. We are asking everyone to please do your part to reduce community spread to help lessen the stress on our limited resources..."

Hospital leadership is also encouraging community members to get a flu shot.